The Guardian of Forever

            On Tuesday morning I worked out the chords for the first verse of “Ex-Fan des Sixties” by Serge Gainsbourg and some of the transition to the second chorus.

            I had my first song practice with the Oscar Schmidt since the end of last spring. Remenyi fixed my E string machine but now the guitar has the same problem of the B string going out of tune as the Washburn. I don’t recall having that issue before with the Schmidt and so it’s weird that this is happening with both guitars. I’ll probably be picking up the Washburn with a new B string machine around midday, so hopefully I'll end up with one functional guitar, but I am sceptical based on what has happened so far with the machine having already recently been changed and having not made a damn bit of difference. 

             I got through to Harold a little after 11:00 and was surprised to that he’d forgotten whether it was the machine for the G string or the B string that needed to be changed. I had wanted to head downtown at that time without screwing up my day too much but Harold told me it would now take two hours. 

             I removed the two elements on the right side of my stove, cleaned up all the rusty soot underneath, and washed the trays and tops with steel wool and abrasive cleanser. I had time to clean the other two elements but after an hour and a half I decided to call Remenyi again and Harold told me the guitar was ready. 

            I wasn’t ready to leave until 13:00. When I got there Harold once again pointed out that I shouldn’t wind my whole string around the tuning post. I told him that I’d been researching his claim that it’s bad for the guitar and I’ve found very few that agree with him. I pointed out that B.B. King wound his strings that way with the same guitar throughout his career. If Harold could present me with statistical evidence I’d be convinced. He also changed the peg that holds the bottom of the B string in place, which is good because he’d lodged it in so deep last time that I’d needed to use a knife to pry it out. I didn’t test the guitar there but just headed home with it. 

            I got home at 14:15 and had a late lunch of kettle chips, salsa and cream cheese before taking a late siesta. 

            I tuned the Washburn and it sounded okay but the real test would be during song practice the next morning. 

            I finished editing and uploaded to YouTube the video of my performance of “Bad Girls and Naughty Boys”. 

            I worked on my poem series “My Blood in a Bug.” 

            I oiled, salted and rubbed with curry seven chicken drumsticks and began roasting them in the oven. 

            I worked on partially colourizing the black and white photo of the skateboarder I took in the 80s. 

            I translated a little more of Les Enfants du Paradis and Les Remparts du Sud”. 

            I had a potato, two drumsticks and gravy while watching Star Trek Discovery. 

            Spoiler alert!

            This story continues Philipa’s experience after having returned to her universe. Her Michael has been imprisoned for treason but Philipa thinks she can still be changed. But in this world people learn through pain and Michael must be broken. After several days of torture by Tilly she gives in and once again swears loyalty to Emperor Georgiou. She tracks down and kills all of her co-conspirators. Meanwhile the Saru of that universe is about to undergo Bahari and he wants Philipa to be the one to cull him. But Philipa tells him that Bahari is not the end and that he will transform. She tells him to lock himself away until the change. Michael helps Philipa find Lorca’s second in command and he is beamed aboard Discovery. But it’s part of a trick and Michael is still a traitor. There is an ambush by Michael and Lorca’s forces but Philipa anticipated it. Her loyal subjects, including the transformed Saru break the attempted coup. Philipa and Michael fight and Philipa is forced to kill Michael. Philipa is also mortally wounded but suddenly wakes up again with Michael and Carl on the icy planet. Michael says she was only unconscious for one minute but the sensor on Philipa’s wrist says she was gone for three months. Michael demands to know who Carl really is. He answers in a big echoey voice that he is the Guardian of Forever. The pieces of the door that Philipa had passed through become a big rock with a hole in it and lots of swirly energy inside. Carl explains that he is in hiding because of how he was used to kill people during the temporal wars. Philipa feels she is still dying and wonders why. Carl explains that her trip back to the Terran universe was not meant to be a cure. The purpose was to weigh her. She thinks she failed but he says that she changed things there. For instance the mirror version of Saru that she saved will go on to save many. He says her cure lies in being sent to a time when the universes are not so far apart that they will tear her apart. Philipa goes through the portal. Michael returns and the talk of Philipa is as if she had died, since she is never coming back. There is a kind of wake in her honour and the main crew offer toasts to Georgiou. I assume Philipa has gone to the time when Discovery started and she will rejoin or lead Section 31 for a Star Trek spin-off. 

            The Guardian of Forever first appeared in the original Star Trek but not in human form. In that episode the Guardian was a portal with a voice. In this story Carl says he is the portal but we see him and the portal separate. The portal that Philipa walks through is similar in shape to the original. The original story was called The City on the Edge of Forever and it was written by Harlan Ellison.