mirror mirror -scomber ch 1 & 2

8/14/2019 Mirror Mirror -Scomber Ch 1 & 2

1/18


2/18

Forward

Hi I'm Scomber.I'm a musician, a singer/songwriter/producer/author/

environmentalist/father based in Sydney Australia.

I believe that the best things in life are free and should not be

owned and controlled by some faceless corporation or

shadowy publishing/record company.

The creative process and its results should be democratic and

accessible too all...

Thats when I discovered the creative commons community.

No, I'm not a communist, not even that much of a lefty, but I've

figured out that restrictive copyright practices with its inherent

exclusions limits the growth of many creative pursuits.

Admiral Bob, one of the finest exponents of this culture puts it

like this; artists can and should contribute content to culturethat is unhampered by the kind of restrictions that treat art like

an imprisoned thing: dont alter it, dont move it onto a

different device, dont copy it, dont even listen to it unless you

re-license it.

The net result, I believe is a bland sameness that seems to

permeate most popular culture.

Profitability generally doesn't equate to quality.

Quality doesn't always lead to commercial success.This work is probably an example of both!

I'm not against commercial reward for art, its entirely necessary

but I'd much rather give something away for nothing. Thats just

me.


3/18

I'd like to invite you all to take a little time to read and listen to

this book and its music as I release each chapter every two

weeks.

Mirror Mirror is a self published serialized multimedia e book

combining fictional sci-fi fantasy with DRM free music.

Each chapter has its own original song written and produced

in collaboration with the talented artists on ccmixter.org. .

If you are unfamiliar with creative commons licensing, a good

place to start is the creative commons website.

I'm blogging on my Blogger page and the updated ebook is

published on Scribd. All music and its attributions for can be

found on my home page on ccmixter.org

Here , I'll be uploading the stems and raw vocal tracks and

encouraging anyone out there to remix, cut up or mash this

original content to your hearts content.

So here's the first two chapters of Mirror Mirror and the first

two songs from the cc concept album of the same name.
http://www.ccmixter.org/http://creativecommons.org/http://scomber-mirrormirror.blogspot.com/http://www.scribd.com/scomberfreshhttp://ccmixter.org/people/scomberhttp://creativecommons.org/http://scomber-mirrormirror.blogspot.com/http://www.scribd.com/scomberfreshhttp://ccmixter.org/people/scomberhttp://www.ccmixter.org/


4/18

Chapter 1

Three seconds of chat

It didn't seem that much at first.

Corey Mason, second year geek at Arizona State University,

pored over a trail of computer printouts from one end of his

room to the other.

It had been three years since NASA lost the twin Mars

missions, and notably the university had lost a huge

opportunity to get their instruments into space before thecurrent window closed. It would be another six years until

Mars was in such an easy-to-get-to position.

Most people had moved on to the next mission, their budgets

cut by a third. Drawn out congressional inquiries into the

failure of the two missions found the ordinary things.

The rocket guys concluded that the onboard navigation system

had somehow set the thruster jets of the orbiter five percent

askew. When the probe tried its first aero braking pass of Mars

it hit the atmosphere at the wrong angle, where it probably took

a perilous fiery nose dive to the red planet, burning up. For a

successful braking, the orbiter needed to intercept the thin

atmosphere within 1 degree of its nominal entry angle. Too

shallow an entry angle will cause the probe to skip off the

atmosphere back into space like a pebble on a pond. Too steep

Song Title: Mirror MirrorGenre: Dance/Pop

Music: Spinmeister

Arrangement /Production/Remix : Scomber

Lyrics: Scomber

Vocals: Sassygal

Backing Chatter: Jacinda Espinosa

= Download this t rack
http://ccmixter.org/people/spinmeister/profilehttp://ccmixter.org/people/scomber/profilehttp://ccmixter.org/people/scomber/profilehttp://ccmixter.org/people/Sassygalhttp://ccmixter.org/people/jacindae/profilehttp://ccmixter.org/content/scomber/scomber_-_Mirror_Mirror.mp3http://ccmixter.org/content/scomber/scomber_-_Mirror_Mirror.mp3http://ccmixter.org/people/jacindae/profilehttp://ccmixter.org/people/Sassygalhttp://ccmixter.org/people/scomber/profilehttp://ccmixter.org/people/scomber/profilehttp://ccmixter.org/people/spinmeister/profile


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an entry angle would cause it to dive and burn up in the

atmosphere. At a velocity of 6.8 km per second, a temperature

of 1650 C and peak G forces of 12 times Earth's gravity, the

margin for error is slim. The Americans blamed key Europeancomponents and one billion dollars was lost in space.

While this was all occurring, the other craft speeding towards

Mars, the one containing the lander was only 800,000

kilometres from insertion. As the lander approached the red

planet it served as a relay station, accepting the extra data and

bandwidth from the orbiter as its partner used the thin Martian

atmosphere to slow itself down.

The plan was once the lander reached Mars and was ready to

land near the north pole, the roles would reverse. The Orbiter,

safely in orbit, would receive high bandwidth data from the

lander and then transmit it back to Earth.

The first craft, the orbiter, stopped transmitting 15 seconds

after the thrusters were first fired, 480 km above the Martiansurface. It got worse.

Twelve and half hours later the second craft, the lander, in the

words of the chief NASA Engineer, just disappeared from the

screen. Silence. Complete loss of contact. Not even the hum

from its ion propulsion system could be detected by any of the

large earth-based radio telescopes.

It couldnt have hit Mars after losing contact, with its lastcourse setting it past Mars and out beneath the ellipse below

the orbit of Jupiter in three years time. The Mars hoodoo had

struck again, and those little green men must have been

laughing at their neighbour's folly.

The printout that Corey had stretched before him was a jumble

of zeros dashes and crosses. Eight metres of paper represented


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the last 15 seconds of the orbiter. But these were not the

transmissions received by the approaching lander in relay

mode. Although they were weak, they were definitely the first

hand transmissions directly from the orbiter.Corey had already spent enough time looking for aliens by

staring at SETI data to know that it just didnt look right. The

image/positional data matrix didnt flow the way it should,

especially for a moving object.

Three small southern hemisphere radio telescopes had been

tracking the telemetry of the craft in the final stages of the

insertion for navigational purposes only but not collecting the

rich data. This was collected by the larger northern hemisphere

dishes that were better positioned for collecting a larger data

stream.

But a student in Australia, had collected the data inadvertently

while studying the magnetosphere of Mars. He had used the

extra listening bandwidth of his telescope not being used by the

Mars mission.

The relatively small sized dish at Siding Springs was rarelypointed at something so close, so this was his opportunity to

test some of his ideas. The observatory was primarily an

optical one, known world wide for its large refractor telescope.

Because the dish was so precisely focused on the spacecraft

approaching Mars - any stray radio waves, like the two

spacecraft talking to each other, send a small echo across the

region rippled across other frequencies.

Accidentally, this was detected and recorded.Corey had met Charlie Blake on the internet in a space nerd

chat room.

Corey was particularly interested in space forensics.

For every ten payloads launched into orbit he said, two

experience some sort of failure, and three literally blew up at

launch. Thats five angry and anxious investors each wanting

to know what happened to their 300 million dollars.


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Corey needed a contact that could look at the heavens from the

southern hemisphere.

Charlie wasnt your ordinary student. He was 56 or maybe 62,

full blooded Aboriginal and the type of person that didnt saymuch, but when they did, it was very timely and intuitive. He

started working at Siding Springs as a cleaner ten years ago.

Head astronomer Ray Phillips would often chat to Charlie and

was amazed with Charlies knowledge of the night sky and the

movement of the planets. Twelve months later Ray offered him

the position of onsite trainee with a four year external science

degree.

Ray had filled out his application and sent it off to the

department, putting his age down as 36. He got the position,

but even better, the ABC did a human interest story on him that

became a rare media nugget for the embattled Science Minister

of the time. Aboriginal done good.

Charlie was king of the kids. He could sit at the controls of two

radio telescopes and three optical telescopes. No more

scrubbing toilets and floors.

Corey picked up the phone.

Well I say its only 10.30 in the evening in Coonabarabran. he

said as he dialed Siding Springs number.

Charlie was in the control room. Most of the regular staff were

off on their Christmas break and it was basically just Charlie

and Ray Phillips, ten years older and still hadnt taken aholiday.

Ray and Charlie were camping out, the desk strewn with pizza

boxes and beer cans, with all their optical telescopes pointed

towards Venus, which was just about to be eclipsed by the

moon.


8/18

An ordinary telephone ringing in the computer control room

seemed odd amongst the screens and control panels, but Ray

with a wry smile and a raised eyebrow picked up the phone.

He nodded a few times, grunted and turned to Charlie.Its ET calling home.

Charlie wheeled himself over on the government issued gas lift

chair.

Hey Corey, my junkyard pal, his voice silken and calm.

Corey wound into an excited mess of details, like a young child

telling a very big secret.

Slow down Yankee. Start from the beginning.

Well, its like this. Corey explained, calming himself down.

The data you sent me on Mars Express was good enough for

me to reconstruct the full 128 bits from the Orbiter crafts last

fifteen seconds.

But get this; about 3 seconds before the end of transmission,

the positional data is different to the final data relayed to earth

by the approaching lander. Its as if someone had edited a tape,

cut out three seconds, and replaced it with a copy of theprevious three seconds.

But this will blow you away; the exact length of the splice is

3.12 seconds. Thats Pye dude. I know enough about the

processors on board both craft to know that this number just

cant happen.

Charlie took a breath considering his response.

Are you sure its not just your decoding algorithm giving you

a false result on the data.No way, because I lined it up with the other positional data

and I still kept on getting the same answer. Corey stated

defensively.

Corey upped the tempo. Ill email you the full matrix .Why

dont you take a look at it overnight and call me in the

morning.

The hairs on the back of Charlies neck stood on end as Charlie


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realized that he might be able to explain the repeat of 3.12

seconds. Last week he had helped install a new receiver on the

secondary radio dish and knew a bit about parabolas. He had

better think about it further before he jumped to conclusions,Ill call you in the morning.

He paused.

You know I bet if went out into the bush I could find a grass

tree exactly 3.12 metres high. And wasnt that Michael Jordan

fella 3.12 metres high?.

And if I dropped a penny from a twenty metres high it would

hit the ground 3.12 seconds.

Corey interrupted.

I get your point. But pleasejust take a look at the pretty

pictures Charlie. Bye dude.

Corey hung up the phone and walked over to his PC and

emailed the full file to Charlie.

Charlie wheeled himself back over towards the main console,

catching Rays gaze briefly and secretly hoping that he hadnt

shown his excitement too much to his boss.Charlie gestured and asked Ray.

What you say we swing the gear around to Mars for a little

while before the guys get back on Monday.

Ray laconically said Are those Americans still looking for

Elvis? Don Crouchly reckons he saw him in that new deli in

town.

Charlie had known Ray long enough to know a joke meant yes.

Ray lifted his eyebrows. Ill give you a full 14 hours.Charlie smiled, his white teeth glowing in the low light of the

control room.


10/18

Chapter 2

A bitter pill

That day Corey was on a high. He packed away his printouts

and decided to head down to the Three Stags to sink a few

celebratory ales.

The bar was only a short walk across the campus grounds and

then a shortcut through the car park of a seedy motel that

rented rooms hourly to truckers and other passer-bys.He walked in about 8 oclock to find the regular suspects

assuming their usual Thursday night positions. The carpet

reeked of stale beer and a small but committed crowd played

some pool sinking back some bourbon and beer. The jukebox

was playing a Hendrix tune that was weaving its way through

the thick smoke.

Scuse me while I kiss the Sky.

Corey nodded hello to a few regulars and approached the bar

for a drink.

The bar girl was slim and attractive.

Well, Hi there Mr Starman. She cooed, pouting and wiggling

her hips as she positioned herself in front of the beer taps.

All of Coreys university buddies had tried to woo Lisa but

without success.

Song Title: Bitter PillGenre: Blues/Rock/Soul

Music: Admiral BobArrangement /Production/Remix : Scomber

Lyrics: Scomber

Vocals: Scomber

Backing Vocals: Sassygal

= Download this t rack
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11/18

She had finished her freshman year still loyal to her Jimmie

who backed on to her folks farm in North Dakota.

Set me up with a supernova and a black hole chaser, thanks

Lisa.Lisa leaned on the tap and pulled a beer the way only she knew

how.

Whats the matter Corey, you look rather too cheery tonight.

She said as she cracked open a new bottle of Jack Daniels.

He shook his head. All I can say Lisa, is that I think Ive

stumbled across the biggest cover-up since Watergate.

What, the stars not going to shine tonight hun? she

questioned, mildly interested. Stargate I think is already

taken.

If I told you about it I would have to kill you. He said

continuing that old corny line.

She finished pouring the beer and leant over the bar, her eyes

large and doe like.

Dont worry, you can go ahead, Im already in the bad books

with my folks and Jimmie for not coming home for Christmas.Theres just too many assignments and theres no way this

place was going to give me any time off. Besides my old man

reckons he wont pay any tuition fees unless I change my

major to something that would help him back on the farm.

He reckons reciting Shakespearian sonnets to the hogs wouldn't

make them grow any faster.

Thanks Lisa. Corey replied as he took his beer and bourbon

chaser over to one of the vacant booths near the pool tables.He sat down and stared into his beer.

It just didnt make sense. Surely if a second year student could

see something so obvious, so inconsistent, the official inquiries

would have too.

He trusted the source data that Charlie gave him from the Mars

orbiter in its final seconds. But why was the lander data so

unblemished?


12/18

Up to the point of the landers disappearance all

communication and relay systems were fully functional. All the

lander should do is to amplify the original orbiter data as it

approached insertion. If there was a cover-up why would youforget about something so basic? But who would have a motive

to change the final data stream, assuming it could be done,

when there was so much riding on the success of the mission?

Then what had happened to the lander twelve and a half hours

later?

He sipped his beer and was ready for the chaser.

A couple of guys were playing pool at the adjacent table.

He turned around in the booth to grab a cigarette and was

astonished when he noticed that the large mirror wall behind

the booth reflected an image of the guys playing pool. Regular

stuff. Same thing but everything backwards. He remembered

what his forth grade science teacher had once told him about

mirrors. Right is left, unless left is right. Oh, and tilt one way

away and be out of sight.

Mr McDonaugh was a retired World War Two code breakerturned school teacher. It took Corey twelve years to realize

what the old Scot really meant.

Face a mirror and hold your right hand up and wave to

yourself.

You know you are waving with your right hand, even though

the person in the mirror is waving with their left.

Mr McDonaugh would demonstrate this to all of his new

school students.Your brain since the age of about one understands mirrors;

You brush your hair, clean your teeth, do your make up and its

automatic.

Now lets say in a mirror you see a person you have never met

approach you from behind, him too waving his hand.

Is he right handed or left handed?


13/18

What if he was flashing up a newspaper headline?

Could you read it?

Corey gazed into his bourbon and pondered;

What if the distance to the mirror was vast, like Earth to Mars.Even at the speed of light, it took a full 10 minutes for light or

a radio signal to reach Earth. What we see now happened 10

minutes ago.

The guy playing his shot on the pool table was now right

handed, playing from left to right down the table. But the

mirror showed a left handed player still playing left to right.

Corey looked up and noticed the booths opposite also had

mirror backing.

He then stood up and he could see the pool players reflection

in the other mirror but also the reflection of the mirror behind

him.

He asked Mr McDonaughs question again;

Right is left unless left is right.

Its all about perception.

The 3.14 seconds had to be a reflection (at a distance) ofanother 3.14 seconds.

He looked into and then sipped the rest of his beer and thought

that Charlie might be able to figure something out when he

spoke to him in the morning.

Is this seat taken?

Corey looked up and was startled to see a woman, probably in

her late twenties hiking up her tight short skirt to sit down inthe seat opposite in Coreys booth.

Hi Im Miranda. she said.

She definitely was too classy to be a local, Corey thought to

himself.

She had long black hair that framed a set of enormous almond

shaped eyes. And those legs, well they definitely werent from

these parts.


14/18

He found it difficult to avoid her ample cleavage as he looked

up wondering what to say next.

Im Corey". He stuttered. "Pleased to meet you Miranda.

She reached forward and grabbed his hand at first like awomans handshake but then with an urgency that Corey felt

up his spine.

Im so glad that Ive found a friendly face at last. My car

broke down about twenty miles out of town and I had to endure

a trip into town with the scariest tow truck driver Ive ever

seen.

It sounds like you need a drink then Miranda.

Just ask your girlfriend for a slippery nipple. She said

looking down towards her own breasts.

Corey could feel himself blushing as he stood up and headed

for the bar.

Behind the bar, Lisa was stacking the glass washer and turned

her eyes, brightening as she saw it was Corey.

One of your best Slippery Nipples for the lady. He said.

Lisa was shocked for a moment and then began to mouthYou know I cant drink at work Corey

Stopping herself short when she saw a rather long set of

womans legs swaying out of the booth. She hadnt noticed

Miranda enter the bar.

A vodka, baileys and pineapple coming up. She said turning

towards the spirits, hoping that he hadnt heard what she had

said.

Whos the babe, then Corey? Is your sister in town?Your guess is as good as mine. Corey replied shrugging his

shoulders.

says her name is Miranda and her cars been towed here, Im

just a shoulder to cry on.

Lisa had finished making the drink.

Would your lady friend like a cocktail umbrella Corey? she

asked, her tone sarcastic.


15/18

It beats me, but if you want to check her out, come over to the

booth and Ill order a beer. He said as he turned and tenderly

handled that slippery nipple towards the booth that Miranda sat

in.She was even more beautiful than he could remember when he

left her last time to go to the bar.

Her skin was a warm golden colour and her hands strong, her

fingers long and slender.

Now what do you do with your time these days sweetie she

asked batting her eyelids,.

Well I look at the sky a lot. Corey replied, attempting to be

funny.

She smiled politely and gestured to her drink,

Have you ever wanted to taste a slippery nipple like this one

before?

She asked, her lips ready, as if she was ready to say more.

Corey reached over and tasted the cocktail, swirling the taste of

pineapple and alcohol over his tongue to the delight of

Miranda.

That was the last thing Corey could remember that evening.

He woke up in his room to the sunlight and the chatter of the

local robins at his window. He was in bed and butt naked

except for his socks.

He sat up, head throbbing, his eyes taking a while to focus.

He was sure he hadnt dreamed about Miranda and began to

look around for signs that she had been in his room. Nothing.No bra, panties or hairclip, anywhere.

Except for a long black trench coat draped over the chair.

He sat up and lipped his arms into the warm folds. He couldn't

remember her wearing a coat of any kind let alone one so warm

and comfortable. It smelt of her, thats for sure. He reached into

an inside pocket and found a crisp piece of folded paper.

He unfolded it and read it;


16/18

Thank You for a wonderful night.

I wish my car broke down more often in this neighbourhood.Thanks for all your help

Good luck with your Martian chasing

Im sure to see you again soon.

Miranda xxx

Some wonderful night when I cant remember a thing. He

said to himself as he checked his supply of condoms to gage

his possible success. He looked down to where he kept his files

and was alarmed to find the printout and the disks missing.

His panic was short lived when he realized that there would be

a copy on his PC and he had emailed Charlie a copy last night.

He tried to boot up his PC to find the entire operating system

gone. The hard drive had been wiped clean and all the previous

data was done.

But surely Charlie still had the original data and receivedCoreys email.

He wet his face with cold water, got dressed and set out for the

other side of campus to find Lisa. Maybe she knew what

happened last night.

He found Lisa in the library where she turned with a brief look

of contempt as their eyes met.

So hows it going loverboy? she asked.You tell me. I cant remember a thing.

Corey beckoned Lisa to sit down in one of the vacant group

study rooms.

Im telling you Lisa, I cant remember anything after tasting

her drink.

Lisa paused. Yeah, I saw you sip the drink as I brought your


17/18

beer over.

She didnt even take another sip as far as I know, but handed

me back the cocktail, saying something bitchy like this one is

taken. About five minutes later she stood you up and headedyou hand in hand out the door without even a goodbye. I

thought you were such a rude bastard.

Corey stood up and gave Lisa a quick peck on the cheek.

Thanks Leese. Ive got to go.

By the time Corey was half way back to his room, the reality of

what had happened hit him.

The cocktail was spiked, she had taken him back to the room,

fucked him (hopefully) and then taken the data.

A hundred questions began to swirl around.

Who was she?

What had she put in his drink?

Why would she want the files?

How did she even know what Corey had discovered?

He unlocked the door and entered his room and sat down on

the bed.He picked up Mirandas note and read it again.

What does she mean by thanks for your help?

Corey assumed she meant the data matrix, it wasn't like he

towed her car.

He immediately thought of Charlie.

He picked up the phone and called Siding Springs.

Ray answered the phone.Hello Ray, its Corey. Is Charlie about?

Ray swung back on his chair for a moment reaching to capture

the data that he and Charlie had spent most of the day

collecting.

Sorry Corey, hes gone walkabout for a couple of days. You

just missed him. Says he has to think something over.

What do you mean walkabout? Corey sounded concerned.


18/18

Its an Aboriginal thing to do. Ray explained. Its a bit like

you or me going on holidays to recharge the batteries. As far as

I know hed be well and truly bush by now. Oh, but he did give

me a message to give you. He said thanks for the data andthere's an email Ill send to you now. He wanted you to see his

latest Mars data and I'm just running the comparative for the

lazy bastard."

And oh yeah, nearly forgot, he asked me to tell you to look

after yourself.

Next Chapter and track released Sunday 22nd Feb 2010

mirror mirror -scomber ch 1 & 2

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