Dumbledore was the only wizard Voldemort ever feared. Dumbledore certainly knew that he could be a great asset to the upcoming wizarding war against Voldemort. After learning that he was going to die because of the curse, he planned his own death. That's fine, but, why didn't he create his own Horcruxes to secretly return later? Talking about the required murder, he could always kill bad guys like Death Eaters. When it comes to effects of dark magic, this is one sacrifice he could do for the greater good.

I can guess the genuine answer for this is “the prequels make no sense”, however I'm wondering if there's an in-universe answer. At the end of Revenge of the Sith we see Luke get sent to his step uncle, and Leia adopted by the first person to put their hand up to have her. (A politician who no-one ran any background checks on, and no alarm bells were going off!) I have a few problems with this. On the surface Leia got the best deal out of this, a life of luxury and space travel, whereas poor Luke got stuck in a desert, not allowed to join the academy and drinking blue milk. Obviously it makes sense to split the two children, but did Padmé not have any family one of them could have gone with? She obviously had the family villa in Italy and seemed very well-respected and loved by her fellow Nabooians, hence the rather large funeral. I can't believe her friends/family didn't know she was pregnant, or that with Coruscant’s fantastic medical care, questions weren't rais...

The Separatists were under control of Count Dooku, who was under Sidious' control, who was essentially running the entire Clone War and using it as an excuse to take over the Republic and turn it into an empire. So when the Clone War is over and Sidious is in control of everything, he could easily obtain the battle droids the Separatists used without much trouble and a minimum of expense. While I can understand why one would not want a 100% droid army, it would make sense to use droids when possible, since they don't need food (just plug 'em in), parts are interchangeable, and they're even more disposable than clonetroopers are. So why doesn't the Empire use them whenever possible instead of stormtroopers? Is there an in-universe reason why the Deathstar isn't carrying clone troops or why a backwater world like Tatooine isn't left to mostly droid troopers instead of human stormtroopers? Note that I'm talking in-universe, but since Lucas had supposedly m...

A potential loophole came to mind when thinking of an answer to a question regarding Rita Skeeter and the Marauder's Map . Rita is an animagus whose form is that of a beetle. She often uses this form to eavesdrop on others in her line of work, and would likely have used it in the school. Beetles are known to typically have flight and enjoy clinging to walls. The Marauder's Map shows the footprints of people on the school grounds . Would it show, say, a wizard transformed into a beetle in flight or clinging on the wall? Does it show any airborne targets in the books or movies? Answer Yes, the map could detect people whose feet don't touch the ground. It detected Peeves, and he floated. Out in the dark corridor, Harry examined the Marauder’s Map to check that the coast was still clear. Yes, the dots belonging to Filch and his cat, Mrs. Norris, were safely in their office . . . nothing else seemed to be moving apart from Peeves, though he was bouncing around the trophy roo...

Back in the late 70s I read a story in either a textbook (we didn't read it in class, though) or in a school library book. The basic story was a man walking into a travel agency and talking about looking for a place to go live. I seem to remember him dropping hints that finally prompted the travel agent to bring out a brochure that showed something that was kind of 1920s or 1950s style, with a small town feel to it where it looked like all the adults worked at good jobs and kids could grow up safely and happy to live in that kind of idyllic setting. (And, while this sounds like the Willoughby episode of The Twilight Zone , it's not, but the type of town they're looking for is similar.) For some reason, I think it was by Ray Bradbury. It certainly seems Bradbury-esque. The agent gets what the man is asking about and the fee is whatever the man has in his pocket (I think that symbolized, in some way, him giving up the last of his possessions to make the trip.) He's given...

So, we know why Dana and Louis act so differently , but that leads me to ask, was Louis Tully ever stalked in the same way Dana was? Perhaps not having Zool fry his eggs for him, but was there a little more investigation prior to possession? I know this information isn't in the first film, but is it ever mentioned in interviews, comments try, novelisations etc.? Answer According the the Wiki page the dogs were looking for a host and found Louis at a party, cornered and possessed him. So it would appear he was not stalked.

In "By Any Other Name," after the Kelvans have "distilled" nearly the entire crew, Kirk, Spock, McCoy, and Scotty are eating in the dining hall, when a Kelvan walks in. On their plates appear to be colored rocks. What kind of food is this supposed to be? Answer The episode's novelisation merely describes the cubes as 'food'. In the absence of any other description, we can reasonably assume that they're just synthesised 'bulk' matter laced with nice tasting chemicals and vitamins. The black/grey slab on their plates is described as 'meat'. Note that they appear in other episodes , again simply described as food. Sickbay was deserted. Kirk found Scott, McCoy and Spock picking at food at a table in the recreation room. Getting himself a tray, he joined them. “Reports, gentlemen?” Star Trek 6: James Blish and Kirk made a quick silencing gesture. Tomar had come in, and was now approaching them, staring curiously at their trays. “I do no...

In the X-Men movies, Professor Charles Xavier exhibits the ability to freeze minds, effectively stopping time for people on a fairly large scale, freezing everyone in the Oval Office and an entire food court full of people in X-2: X-Men United . When the movie was released, many fans were surprised/confused at this apparent new power. Has this ability ever been exhibited by Charles Xavier in the comics before, or since? Answer In Giant-Size X-Men #1 , in Nightcrawler's first appearance, a Bavarian mob is about to murder him when...

We know that wands choose their owners, more so than the other way around. We also know that to master the Elder Wand, you need to win it, or defeat the current owner. From the Harry Potter books so far, pretty much everyone who has defeated the previous owner has become the new master. My question is: If someone defeats the owner of the Elder Wand, could the Elder Wand still not choose its new owner? Could it have seen Voldemort as somehow not worthy or something? Answer It is possible that the Elder Wand might not choose the wizard who conquers it. If it is always the wand that chooses the wizard, any given wand might also not choose a wizard, even in the instance of a wand being won in a duel. Here, Harry is talking to Mr. Ollivander, the Wandmaker, about Draco Malfoy's want, which Harry took from Draco by force: ‘– then it may be yours. Of course, the manner of taking matters. Much also depends upon the wand itself. In general , however, where a wand has been won, its ...

In Rogue One we see R2-D2 and C3P0 in the Rebel base on Yavin 4. While Rogue One is on their mission at the end of the movie, R2-D2 and C3P0 see the X-Wings leave the rebel base and the droids make a funny comment, but don’t appear to be loading up to leave as well. I seem to also remember a comment by one of the Rebel leaders that the Admiral had already gathered the fleet and was heading out. And the next we see of R2-D2 and C3P0 seems to be shortly after the ending of Rogue One , aboard Leia’s ship ( Tantive IV ) with R2-D2 receiving the stolen Death Star plans at the start of Episode IV. So when did R2-D2 and C3P0 manage to get aboard Leia’s ship? Answer Alexander Freed's official novelization explains it. They were likely on the last wave of transports lifting off Yavin {{ Mon Mothma discussing Admiral Raddus}} “He’s left already.” The man was almost stammering. “He’s in orbit aboard the Profundity. He’s gone to fight.” Note that he merely left Yavin, and was still in Orbi...

I'm looking for a short story collection I read in the mid-90's dealing with collapse of galactic civilization. It’s not the Foundation series. One of the stories had starships that medieval level technology civilizations used to go on raids but they did not know how they worked or even that they traveled through space? Just that the trips sometimes took months.

Is this something invented by Martin or did it originate elsewhere? More specifically, was there another fantasy author that used "Ser" as a noble title? I'm mainly asking because I cannot shake a feeling that I've read a book that used the word and wasn't authored by Martin, but I can't recall anything specific so perhaps I'm just conflating something with ASOIAF. Answer Real world words Is this something invented by Martin or did it originate elsewhere? I hate to break it to the in-universe and sci-fi/fantasy-authors-invented-this folk, but these are all real world language. As chepner points out in another answer, "ser" is simply Middle English for the Modern English "sir", as the OED says. "maester" is Early Modern English for "master". It can be found in William Tyndale's 1534 translation of the New Testament, alongside words such as "faether", "moether", and "broether". (Broo...

After Gandalf discovered that Sauron was back and sent Frodo on his quest to Rivendell, did he continue to wear Narya (one of the Three Rings)? It seems like a huge risk to continue to wear it after the Nazgûl (Ringwraiths) started to try and reclaim the One Ring; if they managed to get the ring to Sauron, couldn't he be corrupted by his power? Whatever powers Narya bestows upon him couldn't possibly be worth the huge risk, could it? Answer When Sauron forged the one ring and put it on his finger, the other ring bearers were immediately aware of him and his intentions and removed their own rings. There is no reason why they couldn't merely do so again. As soon as Sauron set the One Ring upon his finger they were aware of him; and they knew him, and preceived that he would be master of them, and of all they wrought. Then in anger and fear they took off their rings. "Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age," Silmarillion

Forgive the bland title, but I didn't want to give away spoilers. "The Wedding of River Song" is the thirteenth and final episode of the sixth series of Doctor Who, and was broadcast on 1 October 2011. During this series finale episode we learn... ...time stopped because the doctor didn't die when he was supposed to (the first time that episode, but the second time in the series). But then later on when the doctor and River went back to the beach, the doctor actually being the Teselecta machine, River shoots him (actually the Teselecta), and the doctor manages to survive. This was supposedly the doctor's death we see in the first episode of the series. So why doesn't time stop/act all at once again? Secondly: Did they ever explain who the silence and Madame Kovarian are? Thirdly: When River was on the beach (the River out of the astronaut suit), did she know already that the doctor would survive and how he would survive? Answer I'll answer each spoiler i...

I've read the question Here and learnt that even Stealing the Elder wand makes a person owner of it. Then why didn't Voldemort become the owner of elder wand even though he stole it from the tomb of Dumbledore, I know that Harry Potter was the owner of elder wand at the time Voldemort broke into Dumbledores tomb. Even though stealing is stealing. Answer “That wand still isn’t working properly for you because you murdered the wrong person. Severus Snape was never the true master of the Elder Wand. He never defeated Dumbledore.” Voldemort didn't know who was the real owner of the wand. Dumbledore had convinced Snape to kill him. Since this was arranged death, the loyalty of the wand would remain with Dumbledore. Voldemort thought killing Snape would transfer wand's loyalty to himself. “Aren’t you listening? Snape never beat Dumbledore! Dumbledore’s death was planned between them! Dumbledore intended to die undefeated, the wand’s last true master! If all had gone as pl...

Every time that I see a question here about Lord of the Rings, people talk about different ages and an extensive knowledge of characters that had no place in the story of the Lord of the Rings. Most of this information seems to be related to a time long before the events of Lord of the Rings took place. Where is all of this coming from? What are all of the stories that connect to The Lord of the Rings?

There's not much I remember about the book. I know it has a green cover, the hardback version anyway. The green is almost shiny with vertical lines, sort of like the matrix. This could be way off, but the title might be two words, the first being "the" and I have no idea what the second one is. But I could be wrong on even that. The general plot follows a young boy, not sure of the name. He lives in a small town. At some point in the book, he discovers that his whole family and his best friend aren't human. I'm not sure if they are aliens or robots or some kind of impostors. I do know there was some way for the protagonist to know the difference, like some kind of physical marking on them that gave them away. The marking was either found on the arms or the back of the neck, but I'm not positive. I think the protagonist's friend, despite being a non-human/enemy, helps him in some way after protagonist finds out. The story had a kind of small town/I'm al...

Everything's in the title. Hastur & Cthulhu are both Great Old Ones, yet the former lives on Aldebaran whereas the latter lives in R'lyeh. And both of them hate the other, taking it to the point where Hastur even helps humans who do not worship him if it could bother Cthulhu. My question is : What happened between Hastur & Cthulhu that made them "fight" ? In some stories, they are depicted as half-brothers or at least relatives. Is it written in any story involving one or both of them ? If so, is it possible to get the name of this story ? Answer No relationship between Cthulhu and Hastur was mentioned in any of Lovecraft's original stories (I think Lovecraft only once mentioned Hastur in a list of names of powerful entities in The Whisperer in Darkness, see the quote here ), this rivalry was created by August Derleth in his own "Cthulhu Mythos" stories written after Lovecraft's death. This entry at a Mythos wiki says: Although Cthulhu is ...

As depicted in the Predator franchise films such as * Predator * and * Predators *, the predators have advanced energy weapons and stealth technology and (in my mind) could quickly wipe out all of the human characters in a single encounter. Instead the hunt is drawn out with the predators tracking their prey, laying traps and ambushes, and hit and run attacks. I realize this is done for dramatic purposes, but is there an "in-universe" explanation? Some kind of ritual code of conduct when it comes to the hunt that evens the playing field? Answer The Yautja (Predator race) have a strong code about hunting and killing prey. The easier the kill, on an easier prey, the less honor is acquired by it and vice versa. They tend to hunt for individual prey, not getting into a rampage in which they kill all of them. For example if hunting for a group of soldiers, the Yautja will pick one target, attempt to kill it, and recover the trophy. It could just spam his shoulder cannon or use t...

I've identified the Messiah complex as the latest X-Men Comic book arc that I'm familiar with, and I'd like to know the major points that have changed X-men/marvel history since then (with the aim of buying the TPBs to fill the gaps in my knowledge). Wikipedia have a listing of all of the preceding story lines since Messia Complex: "Divided We Stand" "Manifest Destiny" "X-Infernus" "Messiah War" "Utopia" "Nation X" "Necrosha" "Second Coming" "Curse of the Mutants" "Age of X" "Schism" "Regenesis" But I can't tell from these entries which of these has featured the largest change in the world of Marvel. Now I know this might come down to being subjective, but my main interest in this question is the relevance of the story arc, which one story since the Messia Complex, has had the most impact on the X-men/Marvel still felt "today" ? Answer Of ...

Thor is an Asgardian. Are Asgardians powerful enough to hold an Infinity Stone? Similarly, being gods, will Odin, Loki or Heimdall be able to wield any of the Infinity Stones? Answer It depends on which media continuity you're discussing. In the comics, he did use an Infinity Gem. In the movies who can use them seems to vary widely but he does seem reluctant to even consider using one, even when one falls directly into his hands (the Mind Stone from Avengers: Age of Ultron) In the Marvel Comics Universe, Earth-616, the answer is yes. He has and did use an Infinity Gem. He, for a time carried the Infinity Gem of Power and confronted the Mad Titan, Thanos in hand to hand combat. Thanos cheats, which meant he was impressed. During the Blood and Thunder storyline, Thor Odinson gets the Infinity Gem of Power and goes on a rampage across the Marvel Universe. Thanos and Thor mix it up in Silver Surfer Vol. 3, Issue 88. Thor, who is significantly more powerful than Ronan with the Uni...

When the Death Eaters attacked Hogwarts, why did the Death Eaters not just use Avada Kedavra and kill everyone? Answer The main reason why they didn't use Avada Kedavra is that they are attacking a school full of children. Although Death Eaters are what we consider "evil", not all of them are as bent on evil as Voldemort. We know of at least 4 (Crabbe, Goyle, and the Malfoys) of the Death Eaters had children of their own in the castle. In fact even Voldemort expresses a desire to not "shed magical blood" during the battle. "If you continue to resist me, you will all die, one by one. I do not wish this to happen . Every drop of magical blood spilled is a loss and a waste." The intent of the Death Eaters is to take control of the school, and capture Harry Potter, they were not intent on killing everyone. If you want to read up on some (speculative) logic on the topic of spell casting these answers provide excellent insight into spell casting, which...

Space is just open 3D space, right? In Star Trek, ships are always coming from somewhere else: different solar systems, galaxies, etc. However, when they meet, they always seem to be on parallel planes (facing each other). In some episodes I recall seeing ships that were adrift (and they appeared facing a different trajectory). How can there possibly be some standardized reference plane in space? Do ships just choose to align with each other to be polite? Or perhaps when entering a solar system, the pilot, or navigation system aligns orthogonally with the local orbital axis?

In the original Russian version of the Night Watch series, I believe the heads of the Moscow Night and Day Watches are called Гесер and Завулон respectively. (I don't actually have a copy of any of the books in Russian, but I've picked up this information from DVK's answers about the books, in which he includes both Russian text and his own English translation.) In the English translations I've been reading, the names are rendered as Gesar and Zabulon , although a more literal transliteration of the above names written in Cyrillic would be "Geser" and "Zavulon". What is the reason for this deviation from a letter-by-letter transliteration? As far as I can tell, "Gesar" and "Zabulon" are no easier to pronounce in English than "Geser" and "Zavulon", nor is there any hidden meaning in any of these names which is apparent to the English-speaking eye. Why were their names translated to Gesar and Zabulon rather t...

Advanced Potion-Making (by Libatius Borage!) was used for sixth year Potions classes. Canon does not make clear whether it was also used for seventh year Potions, so I'm going to presume it was only the sixth years' textbook. Slughorn passes out two battered copies of Advanced Potion-Making to Harry and Ron, and Harry ends up with Snape's old textbook, as we know. A few relevant passages from Half-Blood Prince and Deathly Hallows : Harry bent low to retrieve the book and, as he did so, he saw something scribbled along the bottom of the back cover in the same small, cramped handwriting as the instructions that had won him his bottle of Felix Felicis, now safely hidden inside a pair of socks in his trunk upstairs. This Book is the Property of the Half-Blood Prince Half-Blood Prince - page 183 - Bloomsbury - chapter nine, The Half-Blood Prince ‘SECTUMSEMPRA!’ bellowed Harry from the floor, waving his wand wildly. Blood spurted from Malfoy’s face and chest as though he had ...

Did Owen and Beru Lars ever meet R2D2 during the events of prequels? I would be primarily interested in canon (3 prequel movies), but if there are no such instances in canon, an answer based on Legends is fine. (I'm thinking of 2 possible instances: either when C3PO was living with Shmi; or when R2D2 accompanied Anakin to Tatooine when she was killed, would be my own 2 main possible guesses). Answer YES, R2-D2 accompanied Anakin to Tatooine and got out of the ship during Shmi's funeral: from Attack of the Clones Script EXTERIOR: TATOOINE, HOMESTEAD, GRAVESITE - DAY ANAKIN, PADMÉ, CLIEGG, OWEN, BERU , and THREEPIO are standing around Shmi's grave. Two other headstones, one smaller than the other, stand in the blazing suns. CLIEGG: I know wherever you are it's become a better place. You were the most loving partner a man could ever have. Goodbye, my dearest wife. And thank you. Brief pause. ANAKIN steps forward and kneels at his mother's grave. He picks up a handful...

How do Gallifreyans breed? Are they asexual - like Donna asked, 'Do you lop a limb off and sprout another one?' And can humans and Gallifreyans inter-breed? Eight claimed he was half human on his mothers side, but that doesn't come up in any other incarnation. Answer First, I'm going to assume you mean Gallifreyans, because "Time Lord" is not a race . Second, keep in mind that Doctor Who has no canon ; no one in a position of creative or legal authority has ever laid down what is and isn't canon, and the two producers for New Who have both said they don't think canon is possible. That being true, generally off-screen events (audio stories, books, comics, etc) have less ontological inertia than things which actually happen during an episode of the show. Gallifreyans can probably have children with humans. ...Although it's never happened on screen. The Doctor's granddaughter Susan married a human in the 22nd century , and one account says that...

I can think of at least three episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation in which Picard's mind was taken over, or at least intentionally messed with in order to make him do specific things. Are there more examples of Picard's mind being taken over?

Gods are omnipresent in A Song of Ice and Fire , but do they exist? The old gods have never listened to the Starks' prayers; the only time was when Arya was in Harrenhal and she heard voices. Was it the gods or just an illusion? The sept does not exist for me because the concept is childish (the Mother, the Father..) and never listened. The Lord of Light may or may not listen to his followers. EDIT : In the part where Stannis throws leeches into the fire and prays to Rh'llor, some of the processes are already engaged: Walder Frey had been planning to kill Robb before. Can't say for sure when Baelish began planning to kill Joffrey, so this leech is hard to determine. Balon Greyjoy's freak accident (fall off a bridge) is the only incident that didn't seem to be a mortal's influence, and is the most likely candidate for being the work of R'hllor, but we'll never know.

In The Philosopher's Stone , why was the flying key not kept in Dumbledore's office safely far away from the door? Who were they trying to make the stone accessible to that wouldn't be able to simply ask Dumbledore for the key? Answer No direct canon answer, but a strong suspicion is that he was setting it up that Harry could try his strength and grow. 'D'you think he meant you to do it?' said Ron. 'Sending you your father's Cloak and everything?' 'Well,' Hermione exploded, 'if he did – I mean to say – that's terrible – you could have been killed.' 'No, it isn't,' said Harry thoughtfully. 'He's a funny man, Dumbledore. I think he sort of wanted to give me a chance. I think he knows more or less everything that goes on here, you know. I reckon he had a pretty good idea we were going to try, and instead of stopping us, he just taught us enough to help. I don't think it was an accident he let me find out how...

In Order of the Phoenix , Dumbledore explains to Harry the protection that the Dursleys' home provides: While you can still call home the place where your mother's blood dwells, there you cannot be touched or harmed by Voldemort. He shed her blood, but it lives on in you and her sister. Her blood became your refuge. You need return there only once a year, but as long as you can still call it home, there he cannot hurt you. Your aunt knows this. I explained what I had done in the letter I left, with you, on her doorstep. She knows that allowing you houseroom may well have kept you alive for the past fifteen years. Dumbledore says that he cannot be "touched or harmed by Voldemort". Does this mean that he could have sent a Death Eater to just bust down the door and kill Harry, assuming that Voldemort would allow them to? And even if he didn't want them to kill him, could they have harmed him in some other way (e.g. the Cruciatus Curse)? Answer No. Harry was protect...

Reading @Thunderforge's answer to this question , I percieved an assumption he had taken on how Hawkgirl and Hawkman reincarnate (which he confirmed in this comment ) and that I originally shared: "a new child from new parents" Further contemplation however made me realise that if that were true, than we would run into a huge timeline problem: It is stated (both in the Arrow / Flash crossover and on Legends of Tomorrow ) that the cycle of reincarnations started 4000 years ago they have - so far - been killed 206 times (or 205 if we exclude the first death, when they were already adults). That would mean that - on average - they would henceforce have to be killed every 19.5 years (or, if their souls jump into genetically identical (!!!) babies the moment they die, at the age of 19.5 years). We know Savage tracks them when they, or rather especially when Hawkgirl "emerges", in order to kill them. We also know that they had a child, the late Professor Boardm...

Does anyone know this science fiction story? It's about Earth sending a colonization ship to another world. The trip would take about 200 years so the people were put in suspended animation. 75 years later we developed the technology to travel faster than the speed of light so we used that technology to colonize the planet that was the destination of the people in suspended animation. That ship was left to complete its journey as scheduled, and those people finally arrived to find that the planet had been destroyed by nuclear war.

In High Fantasy settings it always seems like centuries and sometimes millennia go by with no technological advancement. Is there any reason why? Answer To build on top of what Daniel said, there are really three core concepts behind the stagnation of technology in high fantasy settings. Not all apply to Arda but they apply in different measures in different fantasy worlds. Dark Ages Most of human history, as Daniel pointed out, takes place in periods of stagnated development. Sometimes the result of the downfall of a civilization, and the loss of technology. Sometimes due to religious reasons. Sometimes just due to being so early in the development of a species that advancements have little to build on. Progress, despite what we are taught about genius and hard work, is more a function of all the required pieces being in place to enable the new advancement. Today, we live in a time of unbelievable advancement. However, the advances from the Bronze age to the Iron age took some 2000...

I recently saw the movie again, and I got this doubt in my mind since they don't specify a reasonable reason of why the Drej want to destroy the Titan and the Human race. The only thing I know is that they say something like the Drej are afraid of something but they never say what or why. Is it something related to the fact that... Cale convert Drejes into energy to activate the Titan? If this is the reason, does this make us the evil one for try to kill this race in order to use the Titan's technology? Answer This is discussed at some length in the film's official novelisation which seems to have been based on an earlier draft script for the film and contains various scenes not seen in the film, notably dialogue scenes involving the Drej. In short, the research being conducted by Sam Tucker (Cale's father) came to the attention of the Drej Queen. Her spy detected that humanity was about to gain access to the same technology that they use to power their massive hive-...

I'm told when the sorcerer Ahriman tried to prevent the rest of his legion from succumbing to mutation, he unintentionally caused their bodies to disintegrate and their spirits to be trapped in empty suits of power armor (point out anything I might have gotten wrong). So what would happen should a bolter round (or other weapon) punch through the helmet or chest-plate of one of these traitor marines? Is he effectively 'killed' or does he march on? Could he reattach a limb taken off by a chainsword?

I read a series of books around 1990 that delt with a group of Native Americans that have moved to another planet on the outskirts of known space. If I remember correctly, they had psychic powers and when they went into battle, they'd scalp their opponents (counting coup).

This is something I read in the mid-to-late 1980s, probably in a thick collection of short stories. A man who is acting as a spy or maybe just a researcher goes to an alien planet. The aliens of this planet are human-like (or possibly a human colony planet), but are very xenophobic and do not allow what they consider aliens in their society. The protagonist has become fairly expert at a game that they play on the planet, which for some reason I am thinking had similarities to go (aka weiqi, igo, or baduk), and has decided to participate in a large regional or global competition. Much is made about the fact that in a critical game against one of the planet's masters, the protagonist attempts a kind of three-pronged attack (called a "triple push"?) when normally even a double-pronged attack is considered nearly impossible to pull off. He ends up losing the game but comes close enough to winning that it causes a stir, and as a result he is discovered by the local authorities...

Last night I was watching the TNG episode "Relics", where Riker, La Forge and Worf beam aboard a disabled 75-year-old ship with minimal life support. Upon arrival, Riker takes a tricorder reading and reports that the air is "stale" but breathable. Outside of the obvious reasons of production costs and actor comfort, is there any reason why away teams would be allowed to beam into a relatively unknown environment without being required by regulations to wear an environmental suit (or at least bring along some spare oxygen)? Answer I'm not sure of how "unknown" the atmospheric conditions aboard the ship were. They always scan for an atmosphere first and Starfleet officers trust their technology almost implicitly. If they beam over then they're probably already confident that they are not in danger. The tricorder checks are just to make sure. There reaches a point when you have to assume that they have the same common sense that you do, even if it...

There's an old ( Ancient?) story I recall from a collection, but not well enough to locate on Google ( It keeps giving me biographies of cardiac transplant surgeons ). A famous British IIRC surgeon pioneers corrective surgery for heart defects. the narrator of the tale, a close friend of the surgeon, points out to him that an alligators hearts could be thought of as "deformed" in ways when compared to other animals even among reptiles. The surgeon speculates if this could be a true mutation deformity and sets out to "correct" it surgically in a group of test subjects. The alligators survive, and like neotonous animals exposed to hormones, grow further, sprout wings, and literally become dragons. Anyone recognize the story? Answer This is The Day of the Dragon , by Guy Endore. (He's credited as "Guy Endor" in the linked reproduction but appears as "Endore" on Wikipedia and IMDb .) A Professor Crabshaw endeavors to cure alligators' c...