1. In the party with Rance Burgess, there was a shadow puppet show and it was about the legend of the earth that was. It was in Chinese and you could only hear the first few sentences before Mal talks to Rance, but it’s in the script.

I’m making the telepath Batman’s villain for a very good reason. It has to do with the nature of Batman, why he does what he does, whether he is driven by vengeance or justice. To have someone truly challenge Batman’s ideals, they would have to get into Batman’s head and make him question himself like never before.

1. Your staked earth gig fits right in there, but where the * is that fable in HoG? Not questioning you, I just don't remember it at all. There must be hope of some kind so I can be seriously annoyed with you for dashing my hopes over and over again.

2. Yeah, animals you don't need at all. Unless you want to add some inaccessable animals like goldfish (which you can't pet, and they don't interact much except by kissing the side of the bowl at you. Just kidding you know, but back to that thing about false hope. I like the idea of the painted ceilings - that would be almost as effective as florescent lights and windows overlooking the freeway for keeping you sane in a box of fake air. If hydroponics are all they have of plants, and inaccessible somehow or tweaked in weird ways, that would give me the creeps bigtime. So I'm wondering if some of your sleepers going to be aggressive, or insane even in their sleep? Will you write diary entries for people in stasis? Will they make up a religion of detachment? Insane catatonic Buddhists? Aaak.

You did write Batman adversary there and I missed it. I thought you were doing a whole superhero with this guy. You could...

1. The idea seems logical to me. The legend of the earth that was in Heart of Gold went like this “Little by little, the tribes used the Earth up. Barren, she had little left to offer them. Swollen of her, they left. And for the first time since the Great Burn that birthed her, she was alone. The Earth cried, and terrible were her tears. Acid and caustic, the spawn of the tribes' rape. They flowed a century. The smoke INTENSIFIES, becomes shadowy FLAME. The fire that finally came did so as a blessing. The sphere SMOLDERS now, bits of it breaking up and disintegrating under the intense heat.” With the exception of the part where he said the earth was alone and this part: “fire that finally came did so as a blessing. The sphere SMOLDERS now, bits of it breaking up and disintegrating under the intense heat,” I would say that my idea conforms to that description relatively well.

2. For most people who infected by the “sickness,” they sort of just slowly become more and more detached until finally they become catatonic, although there are others who react differently. There are hydroponics bays in the ships where they grow plants, no animals though, animals are too much trouble. There’s really no reason for them to bring animals, genetic material, embryos and eggs, are more than enough. They’ll populate the new worlds by breeding animals in labs using all that genetic material they brought. Oh and the ceilings of the ships display images of skies, clouds, sun, to give the illusion that they’re outside but that’s really not enough.

3. You might be surprised to see what happens to the criminals and workers who terraformed and built the worlds. Although I did sort of gave it away in some of my posts.

No, the telepath is not Batman, he’s a completely different guy, he will in fact be Batman’s adversary, sorry for the confusion.

1. I'm sad for your Earth that was left behind. Staked after the party. The Withering is a great name for it. This is going to give me nightmares. People will -hate- you for doing this to the leftbehinders, so probably you should do it. Ha ha.

2. I read your other things. Very much enjoyed the infection of insanity brought on by loneliness and lack of sky. I wished you had given them some little green things to weep over for a ray of hope that isn't enough to keep them sane. I wanted more of that story. Do they recognize what the infection is at first, or does it get a good strong grip on them before they figure it out? Do they halucinate? Is there nothing that will help them...aaaak! Send Superman to save them! Just kidding, it was a good and depressing idea. I liked it in diary form too.

3. A heritage of slavery could be backstory impetus for the independents wanting to break away...some shameful thing with a meaning that's been twisted around by the writers of history on the central planets. Even better if it's still happening later on down the timeline after it's no longer a 'necessary' evil, but only a convenience for the powerful to keep them in slavery.

I wouldn't know if any of this is contradicted by the graphic novels, I don't have them yet.

I really really like your telepathic healing superhero, but why is he Batman? If he were his own guy you wouldn't be constrained by Batbackstory. I like the burden of a superhero carrying other people's pain and sin. Some juicy ops for messing up bigtime. If you haven't noticed, I like the messing up bigtime option, especially when it alternates with epiphany or redemption.

Oh, and I love the blood witch! Though I agree not to like the name. Cassandra is much prettier, and you know about the Cassandra complex? Carmine is a blood name.

You have such emotionally evocative ideas. They really go quickly down to base level fears.

How about "Bloody Mary"?

As for the ideas, I like #2 and 3 better'n #1.

So what should my next fanfic should be about and what should I call the horrible epoch of death and suffering on the earth that takes place right after the exodus?

What do you think of me idea for the Batman adversary?

What name should I change Blood Witch to?