B-1 - Erulisse - A New Straight Road?

[engarian.livejournal.com]

B2MeM Challenge: B-1 – Maglor in History 1 – The Launching of Sputnik
Format: Ficlet
Genre: Drama
Rating: G
Warnings: None
Characters: Maglor
Pairings: None
Word Count: 291

Summary: Maglor finds out about the launch of Sputnik and reads about speculation of the future use of space.








A New Straight Road?



I was sitting down in my chair at a table of a Parisian cafe. The waiter brought me a steaming cup of cafe au lait and a brioche, while I opened the newspapers I had purchased from the nearby kiosk to read. “Merci,” I said and settled down to my morning routine. I glanced at the newspaper. The headline of LeMonde caught my eye. 'Russians Launch Earth-Orbiting Satellite' 'Sputnik Orbits the Earth Every 90 Minutes'. Hmmmm...that seemed worth reading.

Settling down to my brioche and coffee, I began to read. “Sputnik ... Russian satellite … radio signals … possible uses for war ...” I put the paper down in disgust. For war. Admittedly, World War II was not that far distant, and the Korean War had only ended slightly more than four years earlier. But here again was a wonderful scientific achievement that immediately was being speculated as appropriate for waging war. The warlike psyche of mankind had taken the airplane, one of my favorite inventions, and made it into bombers and fighters. They had taken the beautiful ships of Cirdan and the Teleri, expanded them, built them from metal and armed them with large guns and weapons, following in the footsteps of Sauron and Ar-Pharazôn those many Ages ago. Too many of the amazing inventions of the 20th century to this point had been warped into being used for conflict. I shivered.

I turned my mind to my own dilemma. I was tied to this Earth for as long as the Valar desired. But how long would that be? “Is the Straight Road visible from space?” I wondered. “Could I perhaps go home again?” I returned to my coffee and newspaper, my wishful thought never spoken aloud.

Comments

[just-jenni.livejournal.com]

I really love your Maglor! Poor guy always seems to be involved in wars, or at least thinking about them in some way. Can he not just relax and enjoy his coffee and brioche? Maybe not, as it's in his nature to be a warrior. ;)

[engarian.livejournal.com]

He is a warrior, and it does not seem to be in the nature of mankind to not engage in warfare. He is a pacifist in a warlike society, not an easy road for a warrior to walk.

- Erulisse (one L)