/ Afterword / (Updated 12-Jan-2016)


Thanks for reading my story, I hope you enjoyed it! And don't forget to leave a review, appreciated by your author. :)

Some people may be wondering if there will be more (at least, I hope there might be a few people asking that question). To answer that, I have to tell you that when I finished this story, I was really happy with it. I thought it was generally good and fairly ambitious, so I pondered whether to post it on the web as fan fiction – or maybe it was good enough to try and have it published?

If I published it, I was actually thinking about a five book series:

1) Book 1, this book, which is Frank through age 13 and the fallout with Athena.

2) Book 2, following Frank in High School, college and possibly beginning his career with Plus Ultra, probably age 22/23.

3) Book 3, chronicling the time up to Frank's exile around age 31 in 1984.

4) Book 4, 30 years later, which is the events of the Tomorrowland movie, most likely restructured with major changes to the plot using Trans Univex and leaving out the "precognition machine" stuff. I would also expand/rework Casey's character and make her a more important element.

5) Book 5 would be a war between Trans Univex and Plus Ultra, probably called something like The Tomorrowland War.

Ultimately, I decided to post it as fan fiction, for a number of reasons. For one, it's just really hard and time consuming to find an agent and get something published, particularly something based on an existing intellectual property. The second reason is that I ultimately concluded that there probably just isn't enough interest in a book like this, based on a movie that (let's be honest) failed badly at the box office. While I think my story is pretty good (certainly better than a lot of books I've read that have managed to get published), the movie's failure makes it a tougher sell. Not impossible, but again, it's hard enough to sell a book that's completely original.

So will I ever write the above? Well… I don't know. I have some plot ideas about the general arc, but when I really think about it, I realize I'm filling over fifty years of time. Frank's life, Athena's life, Frank and Athena's relationship, not to mention a full Earth history involving Plus Ultra and Trans Univex. That's a lot of time to write on an epic scale. I mean, I'm pretty sure I could do it and it would be good – but it's a lot of work for what will probably always be a small number of readers and a small fandom. And while I would enjoy it to some extent, if I'm going to invest that much time, I might as well put it into something original if I was inclined to do some writing.

If some agent popped out of the woodwork and could get a deal for the above, I'd probably do it, but probably not just for fun. At this scale of writing and world building, you want to believe that there will be more than a handful of people who might actually read it.

Since I may never write anything further on this, I'll do some Q&A on my general plot, for those (few) that might be interested:


Questions and Answers

Q: In the TL movie, Frank was very bitter toward Athena, but at the end of your story, they had reconciled to some degree. How do those facts jibe?

A: Keep in mind that in the movie, Frank is exiled in 1984. That's 19 years after these events. There's a lot of water yet to go under the bridge. Frank is not yet the bitter man he becomes later. He's still trying to handle his feelings at this point.

Q: Why does Frank become so bitter toward Athena?

A: Think about Frank's future now. My chapter title A Little Taste provides a clue here. The obvious meaning of that was a callback to Athena thinking that she gave "a little taste" of Caroline's "you are the future" to Frank in The World's Fair chapter. But my other subtle meaning was, "a little taste of perfection." Frank got a little taste of a nearly perfect relationship, as described by himself. Every relationship Frank ever has will be compared to Athena – and no one can ever live up to that. Athena isn't perfect for everyone, but she's perfect for Frank.

It might have been okay if Frank really had a clean break, but he lives in Tomorrowland, and eventually will work for Plus Ultra. Athena is going to be this presence that's always around. And Frank will always know that he could call her and she would most likely be perfectly happy to get back together – which will always be a temptation.

But the problem is not only that Athena is a machine – Frank is growing older. It's one thing to be 13 years old and in love with Athena with her young appearance, it's another thing to be 18, then 25, then 30. And still have strong feelings for Athena, who is the same age as him, and in fact is even mentally very mature – but looks pre-pubescent. That's going to mess with his psychology. Yet, he can't let it go, and he also knows that for Athena, she literally doesn't care about appearances.

So how does Frank handle this? Ultimately, he has to convince himself that Athena isn't real, that she is just "ones and zeroes" as the movie puts it. He knows deep down that Athena is more than this, but if he admits that to himself, then it becomes that much harder to stay away. Ultimately, all of this makes it difficult for him to have normal human relationships, which is one of the tragedies of Frank.

And again, I'll say that there are 19 years of history before Frank's exile. A lot can happen in 19 years, and their relationship will be very complicated with a lot of ups and downs. I have to say, one motivation for writing more is that I really want to write some Frank/Athena bickering scenes, which will be hilarious when Frank gets older and more confident, and more inclined to push back against Athena's bossiness. :)

Of course, the final stroke is his exile from TL, when they cancel the plans to help Earth. At that point, he's bitter that the promise of TL has gone up in flames and his personal life is a shambles. Both are related to Athena, so he lashes out at her on his way out.

If Frank knew what his future was going to be, he might have just accepted Athena as what she is, and just dealt with all the weirdness around it. But, not surprisingly, he holds out for a human relationship.

From Athena's point of view, incidentally, she doesn't completely understand the problems. She just thinks she's inadequate at supplying what Frank needs, which she sees as 'love' (whatever that is, from her point of view). She doesn't understand the psychological implications of her appearance, nor the intrinsic social and psychological problems of a human having a relationship with a machine. This isn't something she can just look up in a book and understand, and doesn't even know to ask the question.

Q: Sexuality is important in a relationship. As Frank gets older, wouldn't he realize a human girl is ultimately a better partner?

A: I don't know if I would ever do this level of reality in my novel, but just to address the elephant in the room, Athena sees sexuality as just another human function. If she was in a relationship with Frank, she would study it like anything else and work to solve the problem. She's not anatomically complete, but she's adaptable and would figure out something. Frank would realize this, and this is another area that messes with Frank's psychology, to be sexually tempted by a machine that looks 12-years-old.

As for Athena, she would get something out of it in the same way she got something out of kissing. She would appreciate the mental closeness and be happy she's pleasing Frank.

Incidentally, Athena herself wouldn't go out of her way to tempt him outside of a relationship. In my mind, Caroline thought of this and specifically put in a moral trait to prevent Athena from using sexuality for manipulation. Athena is sweet, charismatic and charming – but not intentionally sexual.

Q: Does Athena die in your universe?

A: Well, I will say this: I hate sad endings. :)

Athena would most likely still sacrifice herself in my Book 4 (maybe), but I find the idea of Athena dying without 1) reconciling with Frank, and 2) fulfilling her purpose for Tomorrowland, an abomination. I have some ideas for how to bring her back without resorting to magic.

I should say, by the way, that this isn't a knock on the movie. It's a legitimate and poignant ending to have Athena sacrifice herself, while also having her last moment with Frank. However, in my universe Athena also has this greater purpose that Caroline intended her to safeguard the vision of Tomorrowland until it was fulfilled. You could argue that the movie established that Tomorrowland was fulfilled, and thus her sacrifice made that possible (but that's one of my problems with the movie that I may discuss in my future movie essay).

But I also just hate that Frank and Athena don't ultimately find happiness together, poignant sacrifice or no. :) It's just too much tragedy to heap on Frank, on top of his 30 years of post-exile loneliness.

Q: Do Frank and Athena get together, in the end?

A: You can be assured that, in the end, Frank and Athena find happiness together in some sort of novel way. They both lead TL (along with Casey, who becomes a bit more of an important, integral character), which becomes a technology cradle for Earth.

Q: What is the narrative structure of your book?

I doubt anyone would actually ask this question, but hey, it's my Q&A. :) You might be familiar with the Hero's Journey. I actually have two intertwined hero journeys in my book; Frank's coming-of-age and Athena's "coming-of-sentience", and both of their journeys in Plus Ultra.

Athena actually grows more sophisticated as time goes on, and this is a direct consequence of being around Frank and being treated as a conscious personality. The tragedy of Athena is that while Frank gets a lot from Athena, she gets just as much (if not more) from Frank. In one case, I tried to be subtle about it, but if you didn't pick it up, Athena makes a legit and deliberate joke on their day in the forest. :) ("If you were wearing armor and there was room for it, I would recommend you go first in that case.") That's actually why she had that smile – she felt proud of herself. It wasn't a great joke, and it was still very literal, but she did it with awareness that it was a silly comment.

Q: What happens to Caroline?

A: At some point, Caroline reaches the end of her life, as humans do, and Athena is left on her own. :(

Frank supports Athena during this time and they would have some touching scenes together.

I also think Caroline and Athena visit England, and Caroline reconciles with her father (Athena's 'grandfather', whom she has never met) before she dies.

Q: Can Athena kill people?

No. Tomorrowland made Caroline put in a strict moral trait that Athena can never intentionally kill a human being, for obvious reasons. But…

That said, there are two caveats to this. Athena is very clever, self-aware and conscious of this moral imperative. If it came down to it, she might be able to arrange a high probability accident that wasn't necessarily intended to kill.

But the second thing is that before Caroline dies, she (secretly) loosens this with Athena, because she believes that Athena has the right to defend herself, as much as any human. Athena still morally believes killing is wrong (even enemies), but she wouldn't have a flat "never do it" any longer. Caroline also has an interesting talk with Athena about the implications of this and that she has to be cautious never to make humans think she is a danger to them.

Q: Does Frank reconcile with his father?

At some point, Frank's father is dying and he goes to visit. Athena accompanies him, which Frank is uneasy about, but he wanted the support and Athena is the only one who understands. Awkward, though amusing scenes follow of Athena not having aged a day when they visit his father. :) Though, Sam learns to love her when she can do the work of about 20 farm hands ("I know she's not a girl, but you ought to marry that girl. Hell, my cousin Matt married a girl that barely seemed human!")

Q: Where did the Tomorrowland school system come from?

A: I figured Tomorrowland ought to be different, so I tried to think, "How would I design a school if I had a completely clean slate?" It's probably not hard to tell that I disliked school when I went, and having kids in school now, I'm still frustrated with how inefficient things are and how much the priorities are out of whack. But I really tried not to get too preachy and turn the story into some diatribe on school systems. :)

Q: What about all the other Tomorrowland gadgets?

A: I thought TL ought to have some cool stuff. I tried to think of things that would be cool and were actually possible, though the devil is always in the details. Possible doesn't always mean practical. But hey, at least I offered a potential solution to most of the gadgets.

By the way, I actually thought of a way to make those pools in the movie, where people swim through the bottom and dive into a lower pool. I almost included that in the end-of-summer festival, but decided to save it for another book (if it ever happens).

Q: Who was Barbara Newhall Follett?

A: It was a little bit self-indulgent, but I threw that in because she was a fascinating character. She really did write some acclaimed books as a young girl and disappeared at age 25. Look her up, she's very interesting. You can find her first published book on the web, and it's a very odd little book.

Q: What was wrong with the Tomorrowland movie?

A: *sigh* I think there's a good shot that I've put more thought into the Tomorrowland movie than anyone else on Earth (other than the director and scriptwriters – maybe), which is a little bizarre for a movie that didn't do that well, had a number of flaws, and not that many people really connected with. But it makes me crazy because it had so much potential. And I say this out of love and respect, because obviously I got a lot out of it. There's really too much to say about this – I added an extra essay about it, see the last chapter.

Q: OK, but why don't you like the "precognition machine" plot in Tomorrowland?

I'd leave that out from my novel mostly because it's more magic/fantasy than science fiction. I think for a plot that aims to be optimistic and inspiring, realism strikes a better chord. I like the idea of an organization of optimists who are trying to make the world better through technology – because that's possible!

But beyond that, the whole precognition thing creates an immense number of plot holes.

Q: Is there any more content coming?

A: I might add a little essay section to the web site (and perhaps some extra chapters at ff-net) with some background rattling around in my head. One thing is that I have a bit of backstory on Caroline and why she created Athena, and why Caroline might just be the most irresponsible person in the history of humanity. :) But I love her anyway. I also have more backstory I could write about how Athena works. And perhaps some other ideas.

Q: Any last statement?

A: I'll leave you with a question to ponder: Did Athena love Frank? If you think so, how could Athena define love such that she can conclude that she does?

I obviously dropped some hints in there, but that was mostly to raise the question, not to give an answer. Like the question of whether Athena is alive, it's a matter of opinion and reasonable people can disagree. I'd love to hear some answers on it. :)