Sunday April 6, 2008
Book 10: The Longshoreman of the Apocalypse — Prologue: Drydock

Transcript

Narrator: Aboard the mercenary warship Touch-And-Go, currently drydocked.
Para Ventura: Hey. . . Captain Tagon said you might need some help?
Kevyn: Who are you, and how did you convince Tagon that you could possibly help?
Para Ventura: I'm Para Ventura. Err. . . I mean, Ensign Para Ventura. I'm a roboticist. Who are you?
Kevyn: Commander Kevyn Andreyasn.
Para Ventura: Wait. . . The Kevyn Andreyasn? Inventor of the teraport?
Kevyn: I see my brilliance has preceded me.
Para Ventura: Brilliance? Your work was all derivative. You combined Nguyen's research on wormhole properties, threw in some off-the-shelf nanotech, and then got really, really lucky when the whole mess didn't explode in your face.
Para Ventura: Oh, wait. . . It did explode in your face. You started the first pan-galactic war, and now I hear we're at war with Andromeda over your Terror-port.
Kevyn: You're certainly a cute kid. Is this what they're teaching in school now?
Para Ventura: You're an arrogant generalist who plagiarized other people's work and made the biggest mess in history.
Kevyn: If I pee far, it's because I stand on the shoulders of giants.