 |
THE CHRYSANTHEMUM INHERITANCE
A blog by Richard Furness (aka Touch the Light)
'The Chrysanthemum Inheritance' is the title of the 'book' that will eventually contain the first 5 stories I intend to post on the Big Closet site. This blog has been created for the purpose of discussing any issues these stories might raise. |
'The Chrysanthemum Inheritance' was originally conceived as the first part of an ongoing series with the working title 'The Eternal Mind Sequence'. It was inspired by the short-lived television show Dark Skies which aired on NBC (in the UK on Channel 4) in the spring of 1997. Part UFO conspiracy theory, part political thriller, part social documentary, Dark Skies was above all a love story, in my opinion the finest that has ever been beamed from our screens.
"It's natural to fight it. But we both know where this must end. Some day you'll experience the joys of Singularity, Kimberly. All you have to do is touch it. Just reach out and touch the light."
Kimberly is Kim Sayers, the most tragic heroine of them all. Richard/Ruth is finger painting compared to the masterwork Bryce Zabel and Brent V Friedman created (not forgetting Megan Ward, who played Kim to absolute perfection).
As it's my blog I guess it's up to me to start the ball rolling. I'll begin by addressing the central theme to these stories, one I introduced in chapter 2 of 'The Transmigration of Richard Brookbank':
Without thinking, I rake my fringe back from my face. The femininity of the gesture isn’t lost on me. Can my subconscious behaviour be adapting to my change of gender so soon? Or doesn’t it need to? Maybe the device only transferred my memories, leaving the rest of Ruth’s brain functions intact.
Is part of me actually her? Has part of me always been her?
If so, how big a part?
I attempted to develop this in chapter 4:
“The device is currently configured so that only the episodic, or conscious memory is imprinted. By that I mean the–“
“Hold on a minute. Are you saying that subconsciously I’m Ruth?”
“Your mind has access to Richard Brookbank’s unique personal history up to the moment of the transfer.” She pats the top of her head. “Everything else that goes on in here was unaffected.”
“I don’t know if I like the sound of that. What’s the bottom line? Am I going to take on her personality as well?”
Who are we? Are we just our memories? Is the entity who thinks of herself as 'Richard' really Ruth, she's just been fooled into thinking she spent the first 22 years of her life as someone else?
It's over to you...
Comments
its been a very interesting story so far
I look forward to seeing where you go with the story - Will Richard get his body back, only to find he doesnt really "fit" as a guy anymore? will he be stuck as Ruth, and have this dual nature for the rest of his life? Or will he eventually forget he was ever Richard and assume Ruth's identity as his own?
So many questions, cant wait for the answers.
Interesting Alternatives
Richard can feel herself changing, but isn't sure what she's changing into. The problem is, she's been left high and dry after a crash course on how to put on make-up and wear a skirt, and a vague promise from Suki Tatsukichi that Belladonna will do everything they can to return her to her original body. Her only female role models are a battleaxe of a hotel owner and an ex-hippy turned soon to be ageing spinster, neither of whom she wants to emulate.
You also have to remember that Richard was an only child, attended an all-boys secondary school and had neither the looks nor the personality to attract girlfriends. He has spent so little time with girls his own age that from his point of view it's almost as if he's become a member of an alien species.
Richard Furness, this blog
and story opens up lots of possibilities.
May Your Light Forever Shine
That leaves the flip side of this mind transfer unanswered
If the new Ruth is his conscious memories and experiences but her everything else, including her French language skills... WHY in hell did the previous Ruth swap?
I mean if he as Ruth has that skill, as he wonders what else does he have from her... and unasked and unanswered so far is what is it she does NOT have in his body?
She was a scientist, is that gone? What else is gone.
Why would she swap KNOWNING the machine was programmed to do this? To pull off some political aim,? A super crime? Hated being a woman?
Why?
And givebn how easy it was is she even the original Ruth? Was she swapped and disposed off in thre lab?
Is this swap simply a plan to smoke out the real crooks and Ruth exists safe in another's body? Or stored in a machine's memory?
I understand the porg she is now working for, our new Ruth but I still don't have to like them.
Almost a case of with friends like these who needs enemies?
And I also wonder, IF they were swapped back could either resume who they had been? Being the other for even a few weeks or months would have to blend them together somewhat.
Couls either be who they once were without some damage/contamination from their time as the other?
BTW if this org is so absolute why haven't they trained her more?
A period of observation to make sure the new Ruth is not a crook, a planted agent, contaminated by whatever drove the previous Ruth to steal the device and body swap?
And I forget, how was he identified as a suitable candidate for a swap?
BTW if Ruth did this for criminal or terrorist reasons it would be ironic if his old body is dying and he didn't know it.
So many questions, Have fun.
John in Wauwatosa
John in Wauwatosa
Searching Questions
Excellent post, John. All I can say without giving away later plot developments is that there's more to the transfer device than meets the eye. As for the MoD's motives, more than one character will discover that the left hand doesn't know what the right hand's doing for much of the time.
'Death By Misadventure' has 8 chapters in all. The final one reveals the answers to many of the questions you've asked.