Re: Everybody Wants to Rule the World
In reply to James (Jimmy) Gerrold MacGuire (msg # 167):
Having been deployed (frozen) in 1987 before WWIII (in 1989) there was no way Jimmy could know of the beloved local character known only as "Sponge Bob". Some time after the war, in the aftermath of the Plague and eruptions that wiped out most of the population of the Puget Sound, a survivor and refugee fleeing California named "Steve" had wound up in the Viet encampment in the northernmost reaches of the ruins of Seattle. Formerly a marine biologist, Steve helped the Viets recover lost skills in fishing and harvesting marine life to help them survive.
He was also an artist of sorts and drew cartoons and murals on the walls of some of the Viet settlement's buildings of an anthropomorphic sea-sponge character he called "Sponge Bob". further amusing the children by making up stories about Sponge Bob and his friends, his storytelling even including singing a made-up theme song for a TV show that would never be reproduced in this timeline, at least not until there were TV stations again! Like so many others Steve died in the winter of '96. But Sponge Bob was remembered and passed down to keep his memory alive and to amuse the Viet children for many generations.
That said the supplies and equipment were loaded. Passengers started embarking. It looked like only Captain Kim was willing to take this trip, although with the new engine there was much less need of a crew. Out across the slate grey waters of the sound a cold wet wind blew, driving on dark rain clouds before it although it hadn't started raining. Not yet.