I can see a lot of ways this can go. My first thought is something like a Lovecraftian tale as told through the eyes of a Great Old One. Or, by your use of the phrase deus ex machina, it might be something more of an ancient Greek tale, complete with titans and Olympian gods. What direction did you move in, and what motivated you to move in that direction?
Well, certain shamanic aspects forced their way in. Oddly enough. I'm trying to be more lighthearted than Lovecraft. But the primary character becomes fused with a synthetic symbiotic; an artificial organism with magical-seeming powers that even they don't understand. The ignorance seems to be part of the plan, whatever the hell the plan might be. Oh, and the organism essentially gives voice to the host's subconscious. So, yeah. it's an excuse to talk to myself and hope some pay copy happens. This was my second shot at an SF story. The first was set in a far far far distant future - and all my incredible futuristic tech kept showing up on TechDirt.
Hey, there's a reason the Lone Ranger has Tonto. Screenwriters learned early that having a solitary hero leads to a very silent movie, but giving the hero a sidekick allows them to basically talk to themselves and give voice to their internal struggles. As for the other story, being in a "far far far distant future", you can always suggest that some apocalyptic event occurred that led to much tech being wiped out, and humanity had to restart and rebuild. I tend to think there are multiple ways tech could evolve, and it doesn't have to be the same path every time. Perhaps computers were invented before guns, so you might have muskets on a space station. Also, there's certainly no need to be disappointed when your invented tech comes out in real life, it just means you're a prophet :pSo, yeah. it's an excuse to talk to myself
|Also, there's certainly no need to be disappointed when your invented tech comes out in real life, it just means you're a prophet :p Only if the prediction comes true after publication. During the first draft - it's kind of awkward. However, I do plan to revisit it, once I'm a better writer. The other issues was managing scale and travel times. I had not one but three McGuffins going for FTL - and there's good reasons for that - but it made the plot extremely complex and it all came tumbling down around my ears.