A break in the deal

With my recent computer problems, limited writing time, and a new-found desire to finish a book I’m working on, I’m suspending the 52 Cards project.  I plan on finishing it eventually, and to that end I’ll list the remaining cards, as they appeared in the shuffled deck back in January (I haven’t looked ahead until tonight).  Some of them might get skipped to if I feel like writing something off my regularly scheduled beaten path.

Remaining cards:

Six of Hearts (I know that it was last week’s, but I don’t want to let it go)

King of Spades (this week’s)

King of Diamonds

Seven of Clubs

King of Hearts

Three of Spades

Six of Spades (part 2 of Inside-Outside Straight)

Eight of Diamonds

Eight of Spades (part 3 of Inside-Outside Straight)

Five of Clubs

Ten of Diamonds

Ten of Hearts

Seven of Hearts

Two of Spades (part 3 of  Two-Island Lake)

Two of Clubs (part 4 of Two-Island Lake)

Nine of Diamonds

Queen of Diamonds

Eight of Hearts

Nine of Spades (part 4 of Inside-Outside Straight)

Ten of Spades (conclusion of Inside-Outside Straight)

Queen of Hearts

King of Spades

“Before  you sits one of our most prized exhibits.  This simple drawing is all we have to go on.  The back side is a simple geometric pattern that seems to be of no consequence.  The front of this piece is what is very telling.

“First off, there is an unseen line that dissects the work, which makes it suitable for viewing both ways.  These people were more than likely bipedal, with two appendages for movement and two for grasping things.  Some have theorized we should take the drawing more literally, and assume these people had two heads, and one of them was, in some way, used for locomotion.  While seemingly a ridiculous theory, it can’t be totally dismissed as we know very little about these people.

“The subject of the drawing seems to have smaller appendages on the facial area.  Some have theorized that these lines are merely decorative, and still others think it’s some kind of symbiotic relationship.  We have observed some bipedal species with something called ‘hair’, and that theory is the best one, as far as this museum is concerned.  The thicker lines on the head could be hair or this species had several orifices on what we believe is the face.

“At the top of what we believe to be the head is the subject of heated debate.  This yellow, decorated quadrilateral might be some form of head calcification.  It might be a simply decorative type of headband.  It could be a sign of fertility or a mating ritual.  The shape could also indicate a bowl structure.  More bizarre theories indicate that it is some kind of receiver, and this drawing is that of an automaton. 

“This long forgotten person is holding what appears to be a weapon of some kind.  This would indicate that this particular member of the species was some kind of authority figure, or possibly someone specialized in the field of warfare.  The weapon itself appears to pointed, and well suited to stabbing.  The strange pointed symbol with two rounded lumps on the bottom could indicate which part of the planet he came from, or which faction he fights for or leads.  His attire (skin, according to at least one researcher) is adorned with this symbol, and the symbol appears above his shoulder, and outside the border of the artwork.  The symbol that is made of seven lines could be his rank, age, or possibly his name. 

“We may never know the secrets that this piece of artwork holds.  As you know, it was found drifting in an uncharted star system.  The third planet of the system had apparently been destroyed by several comet or asteroid strikes over the course of several hundred years.  We found no artifacts or organic material among the rubble of the third planet, but we found this drifting in space, as if by accident, near the fifth planet.  The vacuum of space kept it preserved, and you are seeing it here and now, the first evidence that, at least at one point in time, we were not alone in the universe.”

The museum patron moved away from the framed artifact to the next exhibit.  His mind drifted to that far away star system as the movement sensors triggered the audio for another exhibit.