Line #26 Literature/AlouettesSong


1	%% Troper-slash-author (the_eternal_squire) of the work would welcome discussion prior to big changes to this page.
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3	''Alouette's Song'' is a self-published novel by troper Tropers/{{the_eternal_squire}}.
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5	''The Skylark of Space'' was the first SpaceOpera series read in high school by the author still attending high school during the 1970's. The author had always been fascinated by the possibilities of how the story might have unfolded had it begun in the post-World-War-II era, with changes in the issues in culture and sensibilities that had taken place long since the Depression Era.
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7	Because ''The Skylark of Space'', the first novel of E. E. Smith's Literature/SkylarkSeries, had fallen into the public domain by the time Fine finally had a comprehensive vision for a reboot in 2013, this actually is a legally non-infringing piece of literature. Some names are the same, but the motivations for the characters are completely different: see tropes below and character sheet for specifics.
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9	Has a [[Characters/AlouettesSong character sheet]].
10	----
11	!!''Alouette's Song'' contains examples of:
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13	%% commented out as Administrivia/ZeroContextExample * ActionGirl: Dorothy, compared to the old continuity, is now oh so very much by the end of this revision.
14	* AlienInvasion: Inverted. Kondal is about to be attacked by Mardonale's prototype spaceship.
15	%% commented out as Administrivia/ZeroContextExample * AlphaCouple: Richard and Dorothy
16	* ArtisticLicensePhysics: Some points of original work are reimagined,
17	** Propulsion system is now a distortion-drag based reactionless drive, fully subject to Einstein's laws.
18	** The matter-to-energy conversion effect is handwaved by supersymmetric string theory.
19	** Margaret also determines FTL jumps can be attained by travelling through the distortion dragging the ship behind it, of which the designs her own InertialDampening system as a subcritical case centered on the ship itself to keep the occupants comfortable during accelerations.
20	** A lot has happened between 1928 and 2014. This reboot makes the most of it but we start at QuantumMechanicsCanDoAnything rather than end with it.
21	* AsYouKnow: The mean are the first the first to obtain an InfoDump about Dunark's planet about his nation, culture, and language. Seaton's the first of them, but stops the transfer when [[spoiler: he's about to get a sex education lesson based on Dunark's first mating with Sitar, and he's trying to save himself for Dorothy. After Seaton explains this to Dunark, the women get their InfoDump from Sitar, and Dunark asks his wife to withhold similar knowledge from Dorothy ]]
22	** Subverted in that the InfoDump while essential is useless for processing idiom, transferring the knowledge of old stories, and also requires practice before successfully using weapons and other devices.
23	* BabiesEverAfter: Margaret's birth control shot gets compromised by an Osnomian fruit she finds delicious and she becomes pregnant while still on Osnome.
24	** After marrying Dorothy and Richard settle on Osnome as ordinary citizens, then consummate their marriage, both awarding each other their virginity and immediately conceiving their baby. It's the moment they've both been dreaming for, and it's absolutely wonderful. The End.
25	* BadassBookworm: In this continuity, [=DuQuesne=] himself, followed just behind [[spoiler: by his research assistant Margaret]] The others aren't too bad either.
26	%% commented out as Administrivia/ZeroContextExample * BetaCouple: Martin and Margaret
27	* CallARabbitASmeerp: The term for horse manure sounds really different in Kondalian.
28	** "First Cause" remains from the original continuity the Kondolian equivalent term for God.
29	* TheCaptain: Margaret Spencer Crane, on the basis of a coin flip between herself and her husband done by her new father-in-law just before launch.
30	%% commented out as Administrivia/ZeroContextExample * ChekhovsGun: Practically everything in the story.
31	* CommandRoster: Margaret Spencer Crane as TheCaptain. [=DuQuesne=] as The Scientist and TheNavigator, after his protege' Margaret makes a deal with him so he can earn his freedom after losing his bid to hijack the ship. Dorothy as the Marine. Richard as the Mess Chief, giving his parole to his captor, [=DuQuesne=], in exchange for his promise to spare Margaret's and Martin's lives once he hijacks the ship.
32	* CoolStarship: The 2014 version with Japanese electronics, LCD displays, keyboards, and a navigator's control yoke. Especially the control yoke...
33	* DePower: Greater challenge for the boys and greater urgency to work together.
34	** Richard is stripped of everything he ever had in the original continuity. He gets by now on his willingness to risk himself for other, how high the odds against success are, and how horrible the consequences will be for him if he fails. Each time he does this, he takes a physical and/or emotional injury.
35	** Martin is stripped of direct access to his fortune. His dad controls it instead.
36	* DudleyDoRightStopsToHelp: Dorothy is mugged and pushed to the bottom of subway tracks, spraining her ankle. Richard is waiting for a train to catch a connection, so without even thinking he runs to the other side of the concourse from where she is screaming and jumps off it down onto the track. He sizes up the situation, then helps her to the tunnel well with a split second to spare from the approaching express run. While the train passes at highway speeds inches away from their elbows, Dorothy rewards him for his valor. [[spoiler: Immediately after the kiss Richard noticed from her Chai pendant she was Jewish, so he revealed he was Jewish also. Each discovers the other is single and concludethey are destined for each other]] They begin an online courtship.
37	%% commented out as Administrivia/ZeroContextExample, possible misuse * EasterEgg: Scattered everywhere from literature, film, or song in the modern era if you look hard enough, used to form a common cultural viewpoint for the time the story is set in.
38	* EnemyMine: [=DuQuesne=] and Seaton are pretty snarky with each other but readily cooperate with [[spoiler: The Captain ]] Margaret bossing them both around!
39	%% commented out as Administrivia/ZeroContextExample * TheEngineer: Martin Crane III, Margaret's husband. Also doubles as TheHeart.
40	* EveryoneIsArmed: Kondalians - check. Mardonalians - check. But none of the humans are aside from Dorothy and [=DuQuesne=]. [[spoiler: Richard is a near-total pacifist.]]
41	* EvilOverlord: Played with, usually in the process of scheming toward the greater good.
42	** By the end of the novel, completely averted. [[spoiler: In the previous continuity Seaton is made Overlord by Kondal's emperor for saving his kingdom. In this continuity, Richard must BECOME Overlord to force Kondal and Mardonale from engaging in a Nuclear War]]
43	* EvolutionaryLevels: The Kondalians of this continuity now ignorant of this and [=DuQuesne=] needs to explain to the ruler why Margaret was able to develop the math for interstellar travel in the first place. Even her parents had left in her the trash, but using her abilities, resolve, and honor she managed to defeat him in opposing an undeserving humanity's right to explore the stars. [[spoiler: He conjectures the autism spectrum is actually a genetic mechanism responsible for accelerating evolutionary development of human beings for enhanced visual thinking and spatial reasoning, but since nature is often cruel a great many children are left by the wayside. Only a lucky few actually win the Genetic Jackpot of intelligence and creativity and still be even at most only slightly unaffected by behavioral problems. He explains Margaret is most likely one of a handful of the most intelligent children in her generation, and he's extremely proud of her.]]
44	* FantasticRacism: Avoided. Kondalians are the same racial stock as Mardonalians, but have exiled themselves through moral superiority as a race rather than any other reason.
45	* FantasticRankSystem: Original continuity had no means for the emperor of Kondal to cope with a Terran holding enormous power from knowledge or wealth, and therefore had to invent titles on the fly for Seaton and Crane. In this continuity, room has been built into both the Mardonalian and Kondalian societies for a means by which a commoner may obtain power through the achievements of great learning. A sage is defined as a ruler over knowledge. The title of journeyman sage is styled "prince over knowledge", and in social prerogative ranks with-but-after all the other princes in the realm. The title of full sage is styled "ruler over knowledge", and is a complete equal to the emperor in terms of protocol. A full sage has several prerogatives, not the least of which is the right to refuse to obey the emperor's without needing a reason, and the right to speak truth to him at any time. These are important examples of customary checks over an emperor's power where there is no written constitution.
46	* FasterThanLightTravel: The hole dragging the ship along can be entered at 0.82 lightspeed, and forms an interface to travel through higher dimensions (HyperSpace).
47	* GuiltFreeExterminationWar: Kondal and Mardonale are in the middle of one at the time of FirstContact, but compared to original continuity the real reason is now known [[spoiler: Lady Kondal, founder of Kondal, and the youngest son of the then dying emperor of Mardonale fell in love. The oldest son had killed all the others aside from the youngest. They killed each other in a duel. The lady confiscated the emperor's crown and sailed off with it, along with the final male heir she was carrying. This plunged Mardonale into civil war. The new dynasty of Mardonality wants the crown back, and Kondal's people along with it]]
48	* HaveAGayOldTime: Martin, but Margaret found [[spoiler: he seems to be bisexual, but only for her. ]]
49	* HumanAliens: The same as before [[spoiler: In fact, so much so that Richard is tempted to boldly come with one but in the end turns her down flat. He pawns the woman off to Margaret's professor, later, before he and his now fiancee' Dorothy return to Earth. She finds out later what he did and is extremely proud of him. ]]
50	* KidHero: In the original 1930's continuity, Richard, Margaret, Martin, and Dorothy were all in their mid to late thirties. In this continuity they are a 16, 17, 18, and 19 year old TeenGenius respectively.
51	* MindProbe: A [[MindRape mind ripping machine]] designed by one of the Mardonale's inventors, captured by the Kondalians for use on a LOW setting upon the Terrans to provide them knowledge of language and customs.
52	%% commented out as Administrivia/ZeroContextExample, character page material? * TheNavigator: [=DuQuesne=].
53	* NoBiochemicalBarriers: Osnome has fewer heavy metals than before, making it now an almost parallel Earth aside from the complete lack of sodium, for which potassium must substitute to make life possible. Some plants concentrate the metals into their cell structure. [=DuQuesne=] is able to test for safety by taste [[spoiler: but advises against tasting the meat ]]
54	%% commented out as Administrivia/ZeroContextExample * ProudWarriorRace: The Osnomians [[spoiler: Dotty also. She's from Texas. 'Nuff said. ]]
55	* ReactionlessDrive: The metal is now described as an isomer of silver containing strange matter in the nuclei. No exhaust is produced, nor is their an explosive effect. The released energy produces a warp in the nearby fabric of space that the powerplant now falls toward.
56	* RenamedTheSame: "Skylark" is the English name for avian genus Alauda. "Alouette" is the French name for exactly the same. Portions of the plot actually depend on the change, for example, Dotty sings the 'Alouette' chant to the ship, as a software backdoor for entering the spacecraft to rescue her friends.
57	* RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething: The entire royal family of Kondal. Roban, the Emperor, is an active head of state, his son, Dunark, who by custom as crown prince is his highest ranking general, and Sitar is now both crown princess and Dunark's favorite sniper on his intelligence gathering missions. She also gets to conduct the palace fire drills.
58	* SpheroidDropship: And how. Even when the ship can't fly anymore the party can still escape in it [[spoiler: by dropping through several decks of arenak hull, shattering each deck with ultrasonics]]
59	* StatuesqueStunner: Not so statuesque but still an absolute stunner. Dorothy at 5 foot 8 inches and having a perfect hard-body from being a range-hand [[spoiler: from her mother's kosher meat-packing business working under her father the rancher]] makes her according to Word of God easily one of the most beautiful Terrans of her generation in the story's continuity. [[spoiler: As a probable tell-tale that Martin is potentially bisexual rather than purely homosexual, Martin remarks if Dotty were walking in the middle of downtown wearing only a bikini she could cause cars to plow into fire hydrants]]
60	* TechnoBabble: Lampshaded. Martin is the first to ask regarding how the matter-to-energy conversion functions, "what are the mechanics of this totally wield shit?"
61	* TechnologyLevels: Averted. Osnome is more advanced in the use of clean energy for the most part. They're roughly 1970's in electronics compared to current Terran advanced systems integration. They skipped chemical photograph directly to light-emitting-diode displays.
62	%% commented out, as phrasing is like speculation on different work * TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture: A plausible explanation for how the story in the original continuity [[ContinuityReboot could begin]] in the early 21rst century rather than the early 20th. [[spoiler: Richard Seaton, a teen artist, is attempting to electroplate niobium through a rare-earths waste solution provided by his close friend, Martin Crane, an engineering freshman, living on the opposite side of the country. Martin had been childhood friends with Margaret Spencer, a child prodigy now a graduate student researching a total matter-energy conversion effect for her master's degree in math under her professor, Marc [=DuQuesne=]. When Seaton places his copper candlestick into orbit completely by accident, Margaret begins to see the possibilities. Martin and Margaret fall in love, build a ship, marry, and go out to Jupiter on a honeymoon; completely oblivious that Marc had Richard captive with a plan to highjack the ship on orders from Marc's other employer to suppress the technology. Richard had gained a girlfriend, Dorothy Vaneman, a musical superstar with talents in both voice and violin, in the meantime. Dorothy's the only one left on Earth who can rescue them. She has powerful friends who can help, but she's still terrified...]]
63	* TwoOfYourEarthMinutes: An Earth year is 1.6 karkamo, Osnome's solar year, as before. Osnome rotates in under 20 Earth hours, making a 'kam', an Osnomian hour, a little shorter than theirs. The term 'season' has been introduced into indicate quarter year, and a 'handsful of days' is their base-10 version of the week.
64	* {{Unobtainium}}:
65	** Played straight as before with Arenak. [[spoiler: With one exception - Arenak is now vulnerable to ultrasonics ]]
66	** "Strange silver", this incarnation of Smith's metal X is also a kind of Unobtainium, having the power to convert copper completely into energy -- without destroying any of the metal X in the process. But rather than requiring X-rays, [[spoiler: the reaction needs to be exposed to a laser pumped through a quartz crystal doped with the very same silver]]
67	* WellIntentionedExtremist: This is how [=DuQuesne=] operates now rather than the original PragmaticVillainy, is part of a [[GovernmentAgencyOfFiction black branch of NSA]] charged with [[Film/LicenceToKill suppressing WMD-capable technology]]
68	* WickedCultured: Lampshaded by [=DuQuesne=] when he makes comments about children's innocence to a social worker.
69	* ZeeRust: Osnome's nuclear weapons technology on both sides is extremely crude, circa 1940's. Mardonale's prototype nuclear propelled flagship uses a design similar to ORION. [[spoiler: [=DuQuesne=] exploits that design weakness to turn the engine room into a huge nuclear bomb.]]

Context Literature / AlouettesSong