Here is where most people get confused. After reading Maureen Birnbaum’s Lunar Adventure (1986) and Maureen Birnbaum, After Dark (1989), both of which have almost identical forwards, most historians tend to assume that the After Dark Adventure is the first and the Lunar Adventure happened in 1993. The fact is that the Lunar Adventure DID happen in 1986! But so did After Dark. And here is the explanation.After telling Elizabeth about her Lunar Adventure and Josh walks in, Maureen never left! For reasons of her own, Maureen remained to describe yet another adventure, only this time to both Elizabeth and Josh. Maureen did not go directly from the Moon to NYC, she visited her family to bathe a bit. Remember, she stank from that space suit! So here is what I think happened.
I suspect that Maureen left Elizabeth after the Honeymoon-in-Bermuda incident, visited her family to remind them that she was still alive and to collect a credit card and some traveling cash and to change into her gold bikini because she was tired of losing clothes (her ski outfits vanished in Vermont. Her replacement clothes courtesy of Elizabeth’s mother remained in Pellucidar. And her next set got all bloody from the duel with Milo in the Horseclans adventure. Maureen was simply tired of having her good clothes lost or destroyed and if she was to see Prince Van and be his Princess, why not dress the part.
From her father’s house she went to the Far Future, the year 802,701+ to be almost exact to lead the Eloi in revolt against the Morlocks to finish the work of The Time Traveler.
Then on the way back, she missed again and ended up on Lagosh where she met Sergol-154. Now remember that Sergol-154 was an astronomer, not some High School astronomy-nerd and that makes Sergol-154 at the youngest in his late 20s, more probably mid 30s. Sergol-154 saw 16-year-old Maureen in her gold bikini and decided that she would mate with him after the Fall. Imagine a teen-aged schoolgirl meeting a man her father’s age who demands that she bear his children! Not only was this like totally gross old guy wanting to deflower her (more on that later) but he was wearing a silver jump-suit with shoulder wings! Imagine Maureen being seen in public with someone who had no fashion sense at all! <shudder>
Lagosh wasn’t a place she liked because the gravity was greater than Earth and Maureen, no slim girl, was now hefting an extra 15 pounds! And being near the center of the Galaxy, there were five suns and the lighting was far from flattering, giving her a beet-like color and she describes sorting out the local rules so you know if you will be eaten by some monster or worshipped as a goddess and she mentions being worshiped is only marginally better. This is another indication of other adventures as nothing tried to eat her in her previous described adventures, but a Morlock would have tried. The Sagoths did not worship her, they saw her as a High Priestess. Lagosh-154 saw her as a breeder!16-year-old Maureen felt dirty and as soon as possible, after saving that world, she changed back into her Horseclans outfit. From there, she missed again, no visible stars to guide her, and landed on the Moon in August of 2017 where she wore that really grody and stinking space suit.
After leaving the Moon, she returned to her family home to find her father and his new bride off shopping someplace so she bathed, washed her Horseclans outfit and only then did she visit Elizabeth to tell her about her Lunar Adventure.
Josh entered and instead of leaving immediately, to the consternation of both Elizabeth and Josh, plopped down, had a glass of wine or whatever, and told them about Lagosh! THAT is when she left for her next adventure and the next chapter to this series.
Maureen is worried as she has always been able to see her destination, or so she says. She never saw Pellucidar nor did she see the future Earth so why worry? But she was.
TRIVIA: Lagash lies near the center of the galaxy orbiting Alpha, one of a system of six stars orbiting each other. There is also an unseen moon orbiting Lagash. Every 2,049 years, five stars group together within a narrow arc and the moon eclipses Beta, the sixth star, causing the planet to go into shadow as it rotates. The unexpected darkness causes the population in the night-side to go mad and destroy civilization. This madness travels as the planet rotates until the suns separate and light returns to the entire planet. This has happened nine times before. If so, then each rise cannot be at high as the previous as each rise in technology would require resources such as oil or gas which would quickly become depleted, forcing the next level of Lagoshians to use methane or other forms of power that are not as efficient. They will never rise to any decent technology as the resources are used and destroyed with each rise and fall.OUR MODIFIED TIMELINE NOW IS:
- 1963- Elizabeth Speigleman is born.
- 1964- Maureen Birnbaum is born.
- 1977or 78- Rod Marquad is born. He will become an inventer and crimefighter.
- 1979, Aug- Maureen attends the Greenberg School as a Freshman and rooms with Elizabeth.
- 1979, Aug(?)- Maureen studies Fencing for 6 weeks under Ms Duplante as a Sophmore.
- 1981, 8(?) Jan- Maureen goes to Mad River Glen Ski Resort in Vermont (20-30 miles west of Montpiler) to ski, dies of an unknown reason, and transits to Mars.
- 1981, 15 Jan 1982- Maureen returns to Earth, NYC. She stays in room 1623 of a well-known hotel within walking distance of 8th Avenue and 435th Street.
- 1981, 15 Jan- Maureen leaves Earth for Mars but lands in Pellucidar by mistake.
- 1981, Nov- Elizabeth gives Maureen’s adventure, two months early, the George Effinger who publishes it the following January in 1982.
- 1985, January 15- Maureen returns to Earth from Pellucidar and contacts Elizabeth who ignores her to spend a week with a married dentist. This was published in February 1986, a year and a month after it occurred.
- 1985, 16 Jan- Maureen leaves NYC for Mars but lands in Pellucidar. She claims to have remained there for four years but probably only a few weeks.
- 1985, late Dec- Ron Marquad summons his subterreine vehicle to rescue Maureen. He takes her through the earth to deliver her to a NYC subway platform. She is still wearing the gold g-string and bra as she sells a gem to a jeweler and visits the home of Elizabeth to record her story.
- 1985, Late Dec- Maureen leaves NYC and has other adventures. Possibly one including La and the Bolgani of the Valley of the Palace of Diamonds from Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar. Probably at least another adventure on another planet. Amtor or Vah-Nah?
- C2780- Maureen arrives in Virginia, 800 years post WW-III and helps Milo fight the Horseclan’s Battle of Gettysburgh. She learns that she is immortal but has not yet accepted being ageless though this is mentioned by Elizabeth.
- 1986- Maureen returns to Earth, Bermuda to interrupt the honeymoon of Elizabeth. After telling her story, she leaves again passing Josh as she exits.
- 1986- Maureen visits her family, leaves her spear, dagger and longsword but takes some cash and a credit card.
- 802,701+- Maureen has at least two adventures, one in the Far Future that is different from the Horseclans Adventure, probably helping free the Eloi from the Morlocks in. She fights in that war, is wounded and travels to the Moon.
- 1941- On the way back, she misses Earth and lands on Lagosh near the center of the galaxy and helps stave off the collapse of their civilization after Totality!
- 2019, 21 August- Maureen visits the Moon for her Lunar Adventure..
- 1986- Maureen goes home to clean he clothes and herself. She, still creeped out by Sorgol-154, she redons her Horseclans outfit.
- 1986 (couple months post Elizabeth’s honeymoon)- Maureen visits Elizabeth and Josh to tell them about the Moon and Lagosh.
Rick Johnson Feature Articles and Fiction in ERBzine
www.erbzine.com/mag16/1645.html
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