We all know that our webmaster has a love for everything Star Trek (his particular condition probably has a clinical name, but we'd have to ask someone like kiwidoc to know for sure). Even though we love the Ironworks, we must realize that The Great Escape Studios came before Ironworks. So it is not surprising that our webmaster took his pseudonym from one of the "lost" Star Trek episodes . . .
Our webmaster was attending the annual Star Trek convention. He was excited, because this year he had brought enough cash with him so that he could purchase a brand pair of Vulcan ears. And if he were lucky, he could pick up a pair of slightly used Vulcan ears and use the rest of his savings to buy himself a cheap plastic comm badge.
While walking the aisles of the convention hall, our webmaster accidentally bumped into a tall dark Klingon. Thinking this an opportunity to try his linguistic skills, our webmaster struck up a conversation -- in Klingon of course. Before our webmaster knew what he was doing, he handed the guy $200 and the Klingon handed our webmaster a beta VCR tape entitled "Star Trek -- The Lost Episode."
Our webmaster was so excited that he decided to skip the mind-meld seminar head straight home. He rushed in his apartment door and turned on the computer. He quickly e-mailed his closest friends to tell them what a treasure he had found. They didn't believe him, of course, and proceeded to once again tease him about his lack of a pseudonym. So our webmaster gave up trying to round up his friends for an impromptu Star Trek viewing party, and decided to go solo. He popped the tape into the VCR and sat in front of a blue screen for about 10 minutes. Then the screen turned to zig-zagging lines of black. Then to vertical lines. By this time our webmaster was slightly loopy, both from the euphoria of finding "Star Trek - The Lost Episode" and from staring at a TV screen that showed nothing but static. After 30 minutes of blank screen staring, characters appeared and it appeared as if the show were starting. The sound was barely audible through the static from the tape. Our webmaster assumed that this was for effect -- you know, the "I can't hear you Scotty" sort of effect. Our webmaster could only make out one character's name. Ensign Ziroc. Then the screen went blank. Rather than admit that he had been duped by the burly Klingon into buying a "fake" tape, our webmaster decided to write his own Star Trek story. And he used the name Ziroc as his pseudonym. Maybe that alone was worth the $20.
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Most Subtle Official Straightman of the Laughing Hyenas -- Grammarian Brigade.