I am so gonna ruin your childhood.

[elfs]

If you ever, ever enjoyed Lucky Starr (love, love, love that cover art), I am so about to ruin your childhood.

Lucky Starr and the Oceans of Venus, Chapter 7, Alternative Version, first draft

After the incident with the airlock, Lucky and Bigman took a tollcar back to their hotel room. Bigman was sweaty from his adventures in the ventilation ducts. Lucky looked as cool as a cucumber, but Bigman could tell that Lucky had had a wild time out there with the hopper.

Lucky stripped off his shirt and said, "I'm going to take a shower." Lucky vanished into the bathroom and Bigman could hear the shower and Lucky's muffled gasps under its invigorating jets. Bigman ignored the solid discomfort in his trousers for a while, but finally gave in. There was no denying his needs!

Bigman followed Lucky at last, muttering savagely under his breath. "Hey," he yelled.

Lucky, his muscled body clearly visible through the frosted glass, said, "You couldn't put it off, could you?"

"Space, Lucky, don't be difficult, will you? You know I hate that. Could you?"

"No," Lucky said. "I tried." The door to the shower made a loud latching sound as Lucky pushed it open.

Bigman stripped off his clothes quickly, tossing his precious colorful Martian boots like so much jetsam, and joined Lucky under the needle-sharp streams of water...

Alright, that's enough.

PS: This answers the question, "Why is Caprice Starr a girl?" Why that question is a question is a question that will be answered in due time.

Comments

[invisogoth.livejournal.com]

Bad man! Very very bad! You're going straight to hell for this one. *shakes head*
Oh, and remember Bigman's force knife, "the most deadly and illegal weapon is the System", which he keeps in those Martian boots. In case, you know, you get more inspired. :D

[elfs.livejournal.com]

Working on it! It's a season for finishing things. I finally (finally!) put the last words into my first draft of Logic Probe, my Sark/Tron slash story.

[acelightning.livejournal.com]

[elfs.livejournal.com]

What should alarm you most is that, if you read chapter 7 of Oceans of Venus, you'll find that I didn't change very much at all. Lucky stripping off his clothes in front of Bigman, and Bigman sitting in the hotel room listening "to Lucky's muffled gasps under the shower's invigorating jets," and Bigman "muttering savagely under his breath followed Lucky into the shower," are all in the original!

In the original, Asimov set up a cheap confrontation of Lucky doing his typical bitchy "I know something you don't know," and forcing Bigman to beg for knowledge, humiliating himself by following Lucky into a place where Lucky is naked while he lectures: it's all power-trip stuff, where the short, muscular, unattractive and intellectually helpless Bigman has to prostrate himself before the handsome, buff, brilliant Starr-- who manages to retain his position in the power relationship despite being naked, usually a sign of vulnerability.

I'm sure Asimov had no intention of creating such a scenario, but that's what comes across now that I'm reading it as an adult. Making them lovers actually puts them on a more equal footing!

[acelightning.livejournal.com]

[antonia-tiger.livejournal.com]

OK, there's a part of me, very rational, saying that these guys are aduklts, so they can do what they want.

And another part of me gets brought up short by the intended audience of the original stories, and the more emotional feeling that you shouldn't be messing with those characters in this way.

If I ever resolve that conflict in my mind, I'll probably have forgotten to let you know. But don't let me stop you fropm corrupting the youth of America. They need all the help they can get.

[drhoz.livejournal.com]

*grins* still want giant venusian jellyfish, dammit

[bolindbergh]

Which cover art? The rejected Star Wars poster from the SFBC, or the retro ones from Del Rey? ;-)

[elfs.livejournal.com]

The SFBC one.

I mean, c'mon, Lucky was not only queer as a three-dollar bill, but he was a bitchy queen. After rescuing the submarine from the monster jellyfish, he pulls himself out of the moonpool and shucks his Iron Man suit. Bigman runs into the moonpool room and says he's glad Lucky is alive. Lucky's response: "If you're going to cry, turn your head away. I didn't just dry off in here to get all wet again."

Meeyowch. I think to write Caprice's uncle clearly I might have to re-read some Armistead Maupin!