Hi All,

Writing has been the biggest hobby of mine for long years now, but I never really showed it to anyone till I gathered the courage to publish some of it here, not so long ago. I was happy to find a welcoming, encouraging community, which is a huge support for somebody writing for the desk drawer for over fifteen years!

I'm not a native speaker of English, I'm Hungarian, but I have an MA degree in English. The reason it might not show at times is that I haven't had to use the language in the last 9 years. My interests turned elsewhere, when it turned out that making a living from teaching English was not something that's encouraged in my little country ie. you can starve to death on the money you can make with it. So I've been working as a system engineer for the last 5 years, and therefore as a kind of side-effect, I also have a degree in electrical engineering.

My love for Star Trek is new found. I have always been a huge Babylon 5 fan (I learned English by reading the fanfics around it as a teenager), so I've always been like 'B5 rulez, ST sucks'! But one day this spring, I was on holiday and by accident ran into a rerun of The Next Generation; the episode was Descent, and though the dubbing was horrible, and I now know that it's far from being the best episode, its cliffhanger was enough for me to google it and try to watch the second part of it. And the rest as you say was history. :)

About 'Blind Chess'

The genre of Blind Chess could best be defined as an anti-Roddenberrian Star Trek fanfiction / original-story hybrid. Now, what on Earth would that mean in practice?

Well, first off, it IS a ST fanfiction in the sense that, yes, there are Star Trek NextGen characters in it, and the universe and the science are both that of ST as well. However, in my view, it is a hybrid between an original-story and a fanfiction because of two things. The first is the fact that there are almost more original-characters than ST characters in it. Even tie-in fiction don't do that normally. From a writer's point of view, it's a risky decision to do such a thing: ST fanfiction readers normally want to read about the ensemble cast and original-characters should only be some sort of an aid in getting to know them better. There are SOME good stories centering on OCs but normally, they are no more than just pain in the ass Mary Sues. Here, OCs play vital parts with regards to the plot itself. As I have mentioned before in one of my A/Ns: this whole is an experiment - I experimented with this as well! The second thing is that the settings are not the usual ST settings either: most of the time, we are not on the Enterprise, not even in the future!

What about the anti-Roddenberrian part of the definition? Well, that needs some more explaining. Gene Roddenberry firmly believed in the so called 'no conflict' principle, meaning that the good guys should not have conflicts among each other. TNG followed the principle after TOS, but with the appearance of executive script consultant Melinda Snodgrass this fence tying writers' hands gradually disappeared. The most notable example for this is her first script: The Measure of a Man. In my story, I followed her example: Starfleet is by NO means perfect. There are people in it who are working only for their own benefits, just like there are in our era.

The other reason I would call the story anti-Roddenberrian is because he tried to depict (and failed) a utopian universe, where people are honest and generous and trustworthy. All the conflicts which they can successfully manage are open, there are virtually none 'stabbing in the back' kind of situations. Let's take one example where you COULD see something like that: the episode called Legacy. Ishara Yar "plays the whole crew like a two dollar benjo" (quote from Keith DeCandido's rewatch), and all the ensemble cast "seem dumb as posts" (also from Keith). Why are they so naive? Why do they believe Ishara throughout without even suspecting anything? Well, it's because Roddenberry created a universe where people could trust each other - it was a lot less common when you could not do that! They were used to it, they were socialized in it and faced with a completely different value system, they seemed silly, and beguilable, and naive.

What I essentially wanted is to bring these really good-hearted, trusting characters into our world, to make THEM to be the ones looking in on what we live in from the outside, and make us face our failures. (Practically, all TNG characters became the 'Spocks' or 'Datas' of our time, reflecting on humanity at present!) I didn't want to be too direct and just time-travel them back to our era, taking one country specifically and criticizing its problems. I wanted to show that even in 3-400 years, there will still be people who can be fanatized to hate even what is good for everybody (e.g. technology). We are humans, we work that way, just look around in the world. This is how the idea of the world Epsilon Four and the cult for the 21st century was born. It is a mixture of what you can see happening in several countries today. But mostly what is happening in my own country right now.

Reality in Blind Chess

Some of the stuff used in the Epsilon Four propaganda machine actually take place in my country nowadays. This is a list of plot-points that were backed up by real-life experiences.

Edmond Jones as a character. He is based on a real-life politician, who is highly intelligent, eloquent in his speeches - and deadly in his intentions... He always somehow senses what to say to the people to make them believe him, or to make them think as he likes. He is currently NOT the leader of the country, but it comes to those who wait...

Edmond's defending himself. This particular politician has a press conference every Thursday, where he clears himself and the regime from all the accusations anyone might level on them.

The fact that propaganda works on Epsilon Four. As Picard points out in character 53: "If you're tired, listless, hopeless AND deprived as they are, you will start to believe people who give you easy solutions."

Propagandistic billboards everywhere, some with Earl's face on it, blaming him to migrate aliens into Epsilon Four. Similar billboards exist here, having the face of a rich expatriate being blamed for settling migrants into the country, using his money and influence.

Emmett who is not sure what to believe. He recognizes Deanna as an alien looking like a human infiltrating the colony - just what he is told. He then lets her go, because he listens to his heart. It's the same as in real life: lots of people have good intentions, and try to live their lives ignoring the propaganda. But most of them are still affected in one way or the other, and can actually be triggered into being afraid.

Gary painting the billboards over. There is a group (actually a joke-party) who usually paints the propagandistic billboards over to something funny. (Their leader's name is Gergely.)

The Resistance trying to help the poor and sick by giving food and aid. Many non-governmental organizations are doing that in a country, where out of 10 million people 4 million are poor. One of the more remarkable ones is called Real-Pearl Foundation. They are constantly harassed by the government.

Joulty, the stranger Picard and Bev meet on the tram. There is a ultra-right journalist that's being decorated regularly by the government for writing articles in favour of the regime. His views are very similar to how the character speaks. (His name is Zsolti - similar in pronunciation as the character's name.)

Chicago, the part of the city that you don't dare to go. Of course there are similar parts of capital, which we sometimes call Chicago, for their crime rates.

The Resistance keeping the people informed: 90% of the press is owned by the government in my country, so there are people who voluntarily print out short articles and try to spread the facts among people so they can see something different than propaganda.

Public work is the modern slavery in my country: people are offered to do public work to earn about 190 USD a month. They are told that they'd be helped in getting a real job, but they are required to take part in pointless tasks of sweeping the streets over and over again, which take up all 8 hours a day, meaning that they'd have no chance to go to interviews (even if they could). If you miss out a day, you're out and you're out of money. On top of this, the bosses of public workers harass them regularly. Many hundred-thousand people are forced to make a living that way.

The government always finds something to divert attention from their dirty businesses - as part of the propaganda machine.

The government is also spending on senseless investments like the government of Epsilon Four spends money on luxurious resorts on a distant planet, while the people are deprived. Here, in my country, money is spent on the leaders hobby: football, we are building stadiums literally in villages of a few hundred people.

About 'You can't fight a tidal wave'

Here goes what you need to know as a start off:

Dreamland is a CD by Brent Spiner and Maude Maggart telling a love-story in the form of a musical/radio drama. The minor male roles are taken by Mark Hamill (yes, THAT Mark Hamill). After listening to it endlessly in my car - and almost causing at least one accident because of paying full attention to imagining the story instead of paying attention to the truck ahead - I figured I could imagine Data in this role. He has the necessary experience in acting, he has proven himself to be a good singer as well (as we all know), they have a theatre on the Enterprise with a Dancing Doctor as director, and in the holodeck you can create whatever settings you wish. What more do you need?

Once you listen to Dreamland, you will fall in love with it, and it will stick with you for quite a while! (Hey! Data and Luke Skywalker is teamed up with a girl with a sexy voice, whatever could go wrong there?) Wherever you see Italic text in the story, you will find the original story of Dreamland. It's NOT the full script, because I was not able to find that, and some of it, I cannot make out (please, be referred to the reminder paragraph above). The two protagonists are referred to as He and She (with starting Caps), because they do not have a name in the story. This is essentially my interpretation of it, if you listen to it, I guarantee, you will have your own.

Set shortly after StarTrek - First Contact

Some 'trivia' :)

The title You can't fight a tidal wave is a nod to Barbra Streisand's film, What's up Doc? where she makes a deadpan musician fall in love with her. Emma's character is a kinda dark-twin to Barbra's character in the film, with a lot of charisma, but even more sarcasm. (The sentence 'Listen kiddo, you can't fight a tidal wave.' is at the very end of the film as an answer to the guy's shocked realization that he loves her.)

Epsilon Four, the colony Emma was assigned to was named after the 'planet below' on Babylon5 (Epsilon Three). There will be more nods to the series being that my first huge love in sci-fi, I'll include all in here as we go on. Next one is Emma's aunt Susan and the hour of the wolf which can be get rid of with the help of Vodka (ch19), Susan Ivanova told this story in the B5 ep The Hour of the Wolf :) Next one is in ch34, Emma's room number is 2284, which is the title of a fanfiction by John Hightower, all B5 fans agree on that it should have made canon. Emma's birth date September 7 is the birthday of Mira Furlan who played Delenn in B5. (I'm not the first author to do such a thing: Data's date of activation in the canon is February 2 - who was born on that day? :) )

The cult of the 21st century is included because I somehow wanted to bring the story closer to what we have in our time, and I didn't want to make Emma a time displaced person (would have been a bit too clichéd). I wanted a character looking from outside into this (semi-)ideal world they have in the 24th century and comment on it from that point of view.

Spot getting overweight was an idea from my own life. The family has 3 dogs, one of them is a very lazy beagle, and whenever we don't have enough time to play with him, he gains a little weight. It's actually a constant struggle (he likes his tummy a lot). I'm not entirely sure how cats work, but I wanted to show that love for pets is not enough. I actually really like Spot's character, it was such a great idea to give Data a pet (it makes him a lot more human than the other 'real' humans). Fearing of losing a beloved pet is part of the lives of owners. I was thinking that Data - now having emotions - must experience the effect of this feeling too.

Data listening to Sinatra albums in Chapter 12: he is listening to three of them at a time Frankly Sentimental, In the Wee Small Hours and Ol' Blue Eyes Is Back. The first one is an early album (created at around the time Dreamland can be set in), the title song of the second one is actually included in Dreamland, and we all know why the third one is significant (if not, search for Ol' Yellow Eyes is Back ;) ).

Including Sonya Gomez in the story: I really loved it in the 2nd season that they tried to broaden the cast a little to show that we are on a ship with a 1000 on board. I wanted to give a love-interest to Reg Barclay, and I liked Sonya's character, so I chose her. She was a bit annoying with her running about with that cappuccino in 'Q Who', and had just as much inhibitions as Reg showed later on - they are a perfect match :) She is a bit bitchy here, but she has a good reason as Emma is a jerk with her from the beginning. I tried to somehow depict the character dynamics between them to show that neither are good or bad, they are just two people with opposing personalities.

Hungarian sayings: Sayings that Emma uses claiming they're from the Epsilon colony are sayings actually existing in Hungarian: The ceiling might fall on us. - we say it, if we suspect that the other is telling a lie. ch34: a rock rolling off her heart - feeling relief. ch35: Short men walk with long sticks - I guess you all know what that implies :)

Words from TNG: I've included lots of lines or approx. lines from TNG, they are like easter-eggs. :) I include the most intriguing here:

The highest form of intimacy (ch19): believe it or not, these are (approx.) Data's own words from a missing scene in The Most Toys. In the scene, Varria has to try to seduce him, and they have a conversation about sex (they kiss but don't sleep together). Read it, it's a cool scene!

Data's definition of a crush (and the fact that he's not unobservant) in ch28 is in the original script of The Ensigns of Command. You can find it on Melinda Snodgrass' site, it's a lot different than what actually got filmed (e.g. Data sleeps with Ardri). Read it, it's a cool script! (Worth mentioning that Brent was the one who didn't want to play it the way it was originally intended). In ch39: 'a little part of me was lost' was also from here.

The unidirectional nature of the time-continuum (ch34): it is from In Theory.

That's it for today! If you have got through all that, you are a hero :) Thank you for reading all of my babbling!