Hi everyone, this is Nil, the author of this humble story.
Due to a recent change in living situation, I am unable to continue to write this story.
There are 79 posts, with about 52 thousand words. I hope you can find some enjoyment in those.
As always, feel free to ask me questions about anything. Since I do not expect to continue writing this story, I am now free to discuss what would have happened if I had been able to continue writing.
Apologies,
-- Nil Athelion
Start from the beginning?
2.04.2014
1.21.2014
Auditory Transcript 21 (Oaths)
Zheng Hui: “I do solemnly swear that I will consider it my goal to bring timely news to the greater Linked Systems government that Telivoni and those within the system are non-hostile, and that shutting down the gate was a mistake with unforeseen ramifications. In addition to it being my goal, I will use my position and authority to ensure that it is the goal of others upon the ship, and that nobody on the ship takes actions contrary to my goal. This oath is fulfilled once the auxiliary council of the Linked Systems government (or council, if elections have occurred) have received all our evidence of Telivoni being non-hostile.”
Zheng (cont.): “I do solemnly swear that I will consider it my goal to keep Myjer a secret from the Linked Systems government and the people of the Linked Systems, and return him to his people in a timely manner, once the previous oath has been accomplished. I will not sell him, I will not let him be sold. This oath will be considered fulfilled once Myjer is returned to his people, or we are attacked by the enemies of Myjer's people and he is taken from us by non-humans.”
Zheng (cont.): “I do solemnly swear that I will consider it my goal to have The Astral Zephyr continue to carry and protect two delegates of the Linked Systems until such a time that they choose to leave for the purpose of opening relations with the Coalition of Free Sentients, and/or the hivemind that is in opposition to the Coalition. This oath will be considered fulfilled if both of the delegates, together or separately, of their own free will, dismiss us of this task; or if the delegates, despite my attempts at protection, both die; or if they have both left to open diplomatic channels with the aliens, as per the above.”
Zheng (cont.): “I do solemnly swear I will prevent the any Gateway we have brought into Telivoni from activating, and will not bring Gateways into Telivoni in the future. This oath will be considered fulfilled once there is formal peace between Telivoni and the rest of the Linked Systems.”
Councilor Rivera: “Nugs, has the oath been magically bound?”
‘Nugs’: “The oath was magically bound already now yes. My tiredness is not problematic.”
Rivera: “Very good. That leaves only the security chief.”
Gestler: “High Councilor Rivera, we agreed earlier that my responsibilities as security chief and duties as an oath-bound soldier preclude me from making oaths of the same sort of as my fellow crewmembers. I believe we reached an acceptable compromise?”
Rivera: “You say that and mean no compromise at all, just that you swear to do your duties and to obey your… what did you call it?”
Gestler: “’Liege-lord’ is a good translation.”
Rivera: “Yes, and if you are bound to do the will of another who is bound by oath, then that is almost the same as being oath-bound like the others.”
Gestler: “My already existing oaths would compel me, but I relish the chance to reinforce said oaths with a magic enchantment. Are we ready?”
‘Nugs’: “My tiredness is not problematic already.”
Rivera: “Speak your oath, Gestler.”
Gestler: “I do solemnly swear that I will always faithfully serve the will of the current legitimate owner of the Astral Zephyr with all the skills and abilities at my command. I will serve the owner of the Astral Zephyr as my liege-lord, with all the responsibilities that entails. This oath will considered to be fulfilled should the owner of the Astral Zephyr freely dismiss me from my duty, or if the Astral Zephyr is destroyed.”
Rivera: “Nugs?”
‘Nugs’: “Oath magically bound now.”
Rivera: “Hrm. Gestler, why the wording about the current legitimate owner? It makes me suspicious.”
Gestler: “When I left my homeworld, I was sworn to serve a role as part of the ship, not specifically to one person. Perhaps a mistake, in hindsight, but I swore to it. Besides, would you prefer me to be freed from my duties upon the captain’s death?”
Rivera: “Who exactly is the owner of the Astral Zephyr?”
Gestler: “Zheng Hui. He bought it from a certain Selim bin Rachid for twice what the vessel was worth then, and Selim has now been paid in full. Selim may or may not have regrets, but the deal was legitimate.”
Rivera: “And if Zheng Hui dies? Not that that will happen.”
Gestler: “My duty as a soldier precludes me from answering. I would not want to encourage dissension or assassination. Suffice to say, I know who it is, and the person is not me.”
Zheng: “Susana Reiviki is next in line. I trust her with my life, and think she may well be a better captain that I ever could be.”
Gestler: “Hrm, well I trust no-one.
Zheng: “Where is Myjer and the diplomats? I… am anxious to go. Hm. I wonder if that is the oath?”
‘Nugs’: “Oath activity is minimal. Impatience is possible as alternative?”
Zheng: “…I see.”
Zheng (cont.): “I do solemnly swear that I will consider it my goal to keep Myjer a secret from the Linked Systems government and the people of the Linked Systems, and return him to his people in a timely manner, once the previous oath has been accomplished. I will not sell him, I will not let him be sold. This oath will be considered fulfilled once Myjer is returned to his people, or we are attacked by the enemies of Myjer's people and he is taken from us by non-humans.”
Zheng (cont.): “I do solemnly swear that I will consider it my goal to have The Astral Zephyr continue to carry and protect two delegates of the Linked Systems until such a time that they choose to leave for the purpose of opening relations with the Coalition of Free Sentients, and/or the hivemind that is in opposition to the Coalition. This oath will be considered fulfilled if both of the delegates, together or separately, of their own free will, dismiss us of this task; or if the delegates, despite my attempts at protection, both die; or if they have both left to open diplomatic channels with the aliens, as per the above.”
Zheng (cont.): “I do solemnly swear I will prevent the any Gateway we have brought into Telivoni from activating, and will not bring Gateways into Telivoni in the future. This oath will be considered fulfilled once there is formal peace between Telivoni and the rest of the Linked Systems.”
Councilor Rivera: “Nugs, has the oath been magically bound?”
‘Nugs’: “The oath was magically bound already now yes. My tiredness is not problematic.”
Rivera: “Very good. That leaves only the security chief.”
Gestler: “High Councilor Rivera, we agreed earlier that my responsibilities as security chief and duties as an oath-bound soldier preclude me from making oaths of the same sort of as my fellow crewmembers. I believe we reached an acceptable compromise?”
Rivera: “You say that and mean no compromise at all, just that you swear to do your duties and to obey your… what did you call it?”
Gestler: “’Liege-lord’ is a good translation.”
Rivera: “Yes, and if you are bound to do the will of another who is bound by oath, then that is almost the same as being oath-bound like the others.”
Gestler: “My already existing oaths would compel me, but I relish the chance to reinforce said oaths with a magic enchantment. Are we ready?”
‘Nugs’: “My tiredness is not problematic already.”
Rivera: “Speak your oath, Gestler.”
Gestler: “I do solemnly swear that I will always faithfully serve the will of the current legitimate owner of the Astral Zephyr with all the skills and abilities at my command. I will serve the owner of the Astral Zephyr as my liege-lord, with all the responsibilities that entails. This oath will considered to be fulfilled should the owner of the Astral Zephyr freely dismiss me from my duty, or if the Astral Zephyr is destroyed.”
Rivera: “Nugs?”
‘Nugs’: “Oath magically bound now.”
Rivera: “Hrm. Gestler, why the wording about the current legitimate owner? It makes me suspicious.”
Gestler: “When I left my homeworld, I was sworn to serve a role as part of the ship, not specifically to one person. Perhaps a mistake, in hindsight, but I swore to it. Besides, would you prefer me to be freed from my duties upon the captain’s death?”
Rivera: “Who exactly is the owner of the Astral Zephyr?”
Gestler: “Zheng Hui. He bought it from a certain Selim bin Rachid for twice what the vessel was worth then, and Selim has now been paid in full. Selim may or may not have regrets, but the deal was legitimate.”
Rivera: “And if Zheng Hui dies? Not that that will happen.”
Gestler: “My duty as a soldier precludes me from answering. I would not want to encourage dissension or assassination. Suffice to say, I know who it is, and the person is not me.”
Zheng: “Susana Reiviki is next in line. I trust her with my life, and think she may well be a better captain that I ever could be.”
Gestler: “Hrm, well I trust no-one.
Zheng: “Where is Myjer and the diplomats? I… am anxious to go. Hm. I wonder if that is the oath?”
‘Nugs’: “Oath activity is minimal. Impatience is possible as alternative?”
Zheng: “…I see.”
1.20.2014
Journal of Maria Santiago: Excerpt 5
My latest task has been to modify part of the ship to make Myjer comfortable. With that in mind, Zephyr (through the captain, anyway) provided me with copious amounts of data on Myjer’s people’s habits and preferences and physiology. I was able to recruit one of Susana’s scientists, a biologist, who has had little to do this voyage, other than go over our long-distance images of C-131’s history.
The first problem is that while on land Myjer’s people move in a manner similar to slugs (thus the moniker of ‘slugs’) their species is actually amphibious, with a preference for underwater habitat. There, they move more like some manner of serpent, and the reason for their long body and skeletal system becomes clearer – the slug-like behavior, underwater, is used to cling on to rocks, or slide quietly around.
For this, I decided that I could partition off some of the unused living quarters, and then cut in doors from above to provide an underwater cave system which, from all reports, is the aliens’ natural habitat.
The second problem was a question of breathing and food. The aliens do utilize oxygen, but require very high amounts of oxygen in their water, nearly to saturation. This forced me to have an airlock system, as oxygen escaping from the water has a potential to reach dangerous levels for humans. Food is even trickier, as they eat via filtration (in fact, Henrietta considers them to be closer to very mobile shellfish). I am almost considering letting Myjer use his magic to prepare his food, as grinding up food and releasing it into the water seems like a messy enterprise. They have switched to eating earth-stock plankton while on Telivoni, but earlier the humans fed them on a liquid diet.
The third problem is that, while above water, Myjer’s people prefer warm temperatures and high humidity, quite different than the cool temperatures and low humidity we keep here on the Astral Zephyr. On the planet, this is not a problem, as thei ship chose to crashland near the equator, probably for this reason. While I do not want our guest to dry out, I also worry about what the rest of the crew would think about maintaining tropical heat and humidity. Further, the humidity would likely have a negative impact on both manufacturing and the science departments, not to mention our own engines (though we are in a fairly isolated part of the ship). Additionally, it would probably require a whole new set of maintenance servitors picking up condensation and returning it to the air or into the plumbing system.
If Zephyr does want to make the ship comfortable for Myjer beyond his quarters, my current plan involves temperature and humidity containment thresholds all around all of Myjer’s areas, or, possibly, around all of the temperature/humidity sensitive areas in the ship. If I do so, I might want to take the opportunity to prepare such thresholds in the event of other aliens with troublesome needs.
The first problem is that while on land Myjer’s people move in a manner similar to slugs (thus the moniker of ‘slugs’) their species is actually amphibious, with a preference for underwater habitat. There, they move more like some manner of serpent, and the reason for their long body and skeletal system becomes clearer – the slug-like behavior, underwater, is used to cling on to rocks, or slide quietly around.
For this, I decided that I could partition off some of the unused living quarters, and then cut in doors from above to provide an underwater cave system which, from all reports, is the aliens’ natural habitat.
The second problem was a question of breathing and food. The aliens do utilize oxygen, but require very high amounts of oxygen in their water, nearly to saturation. This forced me to have an airlock system, as oxygen escaping from the water has a potential to reach dangerous levels for humans. Food is even trickier, as they eat via filtration (in fact, Henrietta considers them to be closer to very mobile shellfish). I am almost considering letting Myjer use his magic to prepare his food, as grinding up food and releasing it into the water seems like a messy enterprise. They have switched to eating earth-stock plankton while on Telivoni, but earlier the humans fed them on a liquid diet.
The third problem is that, while above water, Myjer’s people prefer warm temperatures and high humidity, quite different than the cool temperatures and low humidity we keep here on the Astral Zephyr. On the planet, this is not a problem, as thei ship chose to crashland near the equator, probably for this reason. While I do not want our guest to dry out, I also worry about what the rest of the crew would think about maintaining tropical heat and humidity. Further, the humidity would likely have a negative impact on both manufacturing and the science departments, not to mention our own engines (though we are in a fairly isolated part of the ship). Additionally, it would probably require a whole new set of maintenance servitors picking up condensation and returning it to the air or into the plumbing system.
If Zephyr does want to make the ship comfortable for Myjer beyond his quarters, my current plan involves temperature and humidity containment thresholds all around all of Myjer’s areas, or, possibly, around all of the temperature/humidity sensitive areas in the ship. If I do so, I might want to take the opportunity to prepare such thresholds in the event of other aliens with troublesome needs.
1.19.2014
Ship’s Notes: The Abjuration of Free Will
Magically binding oaths. Gestler likes them in principle, but does not agree with this usage of them. Susana dislikes them in principle, but agrees with this usage of them. And, of course, I do not need to take them, due to having kept my presence hidden.
Gestler, of course, cares about loyalty, and sees such oaths as a natural extension of the oaths he took to serve me, just stronger. Who watches the watchers? I do, for now, but Gestler would rather have his security personnel sworn into my service forever, unable to betray me, unable to abuse their power.
He is, however, opposed to members of the crew swearing to fulfill objectives other than serving me. He asked me how can a person have two goals, and have those goals be equal? In the end, he believes, one goal will have to be a higher priority, and with the usage of magic, he fears the higher priority will not be the senior officers serving me.
Susana, on the other hand sees the oaths as opposed to free will. She notes that it is possible to coerce people into taking oaths, and even oaths that include swearing to not reveal the oath. And, after that, how can the consent of anyone be confirmed? She also fears what I think to be the exact same thing as Gestler: How far do the oaths reach? Do they alter your actions in every aspect of life? Do they change how you hold conversations, causing you to speak in a way that instrumentally harnesses the resources of others to achieve your sworn goals?
On the other hand, Susana sees this particular oath as worth it. It is a trust-building measure for her, and there is no overtly harmful language in this oath (partly because she carefully went over the wording of the oath, and changed a variety of things to be safe). And, of course, we agree that all the aims set forth by the oath are worthy goals that we may as well do anyway.
Of the senior crew, only Gestler refuses to take the oath. Instead, he would like to swear an oath to serve me.
I could order him to take the oath, but in some ways I agree with him. What to do?
Gestler, of course, cares about loyalty, and sees such oaths as a natural extension of the oaths he took to serve me, just stronger. Who watches the watchers? I do, for now, but Gestler would rather have his security personnel sworn into my service forever, unable to betray me, unable to abuse their power.
He is, however, opposed to members of the crew swearing to fulfill objectives other than serving me. He asked me how can a person have two goals, and have those goals be equal? In the end, he believes, one goal will have to be a higher priority, and with the usage of magic, he fears the higher priority will not be the senior officers serving me.
Susana, on the other hand sees the oaths as opposed to free will. She notes that it is possible to coerce people into taking oaths, and even oaths that include swearing to not reveal the oath. And, after that, how can the consent of anyone be confirmed? She also fears what I think to be the exact same thing as Gestler: How far do the oaths reach? Do they alter your actions in every aspect of life? Do they change how you hold conversations, causing you to speak in a way that instrumentally harnesses the resources of others to achieve your sworn goals?
On the other hand, Susana sees this particular oath as worth it. It is a trust-building measure for her, and there is no overtly harmful language in this oath (partly because she carefully went over the wording of the oath, and changed a variety of things to be safe). And, of course, we agree that all the aims set forth by the oath are worthy goals that we may as well do anyway.
Of the senior crew, only Gestler refuses to take the oath. Instead, he would like to swear an oath to serve me.
I could order him to take the oath, but in some ways I agree with him. What to do?
1.18.2014
Auditory Transcript 20 (Discussion with High Councilor Rivera)
Zheng Hui: “Welcome to my ship, Councilor.”
Councilor Rivera: “Thank you. So… you are the illustrious thief who stole fire from the gods, so to speak?”
Zheng: “Excuse me?”
Rivera: “Faster than Light magic. And yours is still active, after all this time.”
Zheng: “Ah, well, I did not steal this ship, if that’s what you were asking. I found it quite empty, and felt that passing up such an opportunity would be foolish.”
Rivera: “Hrmph. Say what you will.”
Zheng: “You say that my FTL enchantment is still active. Forgive me, but I haven’t had a lot of drives to compare with.”
Rivera: “You threaten me on behalf of an usurpation, and expect me to answer your questions?”
Zheng: “I am here on a humanitarian mission. Threatening you with an invasion force is merely the means. We are not actually allied with the Linked Systems, despite their best efforts.”
Rivera: “Well, I am glad for that. Our warmaster thinks that the usurpers would try to immediately destroy us, upon the opening of a Gateway. Did they tell you that, or did they just ask you to open up a gate?”
Zheng: “They told us that they would destroy you if… well, it was complicated and conditional. They have a lack of information. If a first strike would be ineffective, you having already mastered the free construction of FTL drives, able to produce them without alien help, then no, the genie is out of the bottle, and they may as well surrender. But that hasn’t happened, so far as we can see.”
Rivera: “So how do you feel about them attacking us indiscriminately? Our projects aren’t for an invasion force, it was for them to trigger a solar event to incinerate our part of the system entirely. Billions of dead.”
Zheng: “And if you invade the rest of the systems with your FTL technology?”
Rivera: “They have filled your head with lies. We have no intention of attacking. We are already the legitimate leaders of the Linked Systems, what do we have to gain? No, this current mess is because of you. Rather, because of this ship being stolen.”
Zheng: “Oh?”
Rivera: “Originally, we tried to suppress knowledge of the aliens and their magic until we could fully understand the implications for humanity. Keep humanity safe, until we could understand. If knowledge of aliens destabilized one planet into nuclear war, how much blood would be on our hands?”
Zheng: “Makes sense.”
Rivera: “And there is, of course, the question of diplomacy and our place in the universe. The slugs are part of a Coalition of Free Sentients, but the Coalition is losing. Their adversary is a hive-mind of magically linked individuals, bent on forcibly converting all sentients to be part of their collective, and subject to their collective will. Or so the slugs say. Humanity is closer to the Coalition, but we are also unable to do magic – the hivemind should have no interest in converting us.”
Zheng: “This is good for me to know. I think it would be in the best interests of everyone to provide my ship with a copy of all data on the political situation concerning the alien species. But you still have not explained.”
Rivera: “There is dissent within the Council on how to proceed. Can you imagine the dissent in the Linked Systems if it were known? Many of us, in fact, wanted to just sit on our discoveries forever, and avoid the upheaval that way.”
Zheng: “But then this ship got away.”
Rivera: “It did. We had the aliens swear to not give enchantments to any human faction until we had agreed on a course of action. But they did, or something like it. Off this ship went. We found the owner, a certain magnate, but he claimed to have bribed his way onto this planet alone. Instead, there must have been a stow-away on his ship…”
Zheng: “And then?”
Rivera: “And then we closed down the gates in a panic, afraid that said FTL ship would return fully crewed and with the backing of a rogue planet or two, or even just one of the larger interplanetary criminal syndicates. Once we had done that, we realized that it was, perhaps unwise, and that the rest of the Linked Systems would likely take it badly. Tell me, who spoke to you? Anastasia Volkova? I left her in charge. Or was it that dog Yang Shen, always trying to weasel his way into power?”
Zheng: “I… can’t say.”
Rivera: “Well, that is where we stand. Cut off from the rest of humanity until we can get the aliens to make an FTL drive. They made one for you, but, well, they do not seem inclined to make one for me. We have the original test ships, but those enchantments have all failed.”
Zheng: “I see. Well, I would like the Slug known as Myjer, and I will cause you no trouble.”
Rivera: “Maybe, but now you are involved. Can’t get away with just that anymore.”
Zheng: “You would prefer us to let the Gateway activate?”
Rivera: “You aren’t going to do that. You aren’t cold-blooded enough to cause the deaths of billions.”
Zheng: “Truly, it was for insurance, to make sure you did not destroy us. We were afraid you would dislike us for having FTL, and breaking your monopoly on alien technology.”
Rivera: “We are not all so petty as Yang Shen. He is in charge, I take it? I fear for Ana…”
Zheng: “I am glad you do not want to destroy us, then. But we still require Myjer.”
Rivera: “Do you? You say you were not here, and yet you know of the seer and you have a compulsion to help him.”
Zheng: “I can’t break confidences.”
Rivera: “Of course not, of course not. And we will give you Myjer. Our goals are not so different. I simply require your help in a few matters.”
Zheng: “What matters?”
Rivera: “First, you need to take a message to the Linked Systems that we are not hostile, and we have kept the gate closed because we do not all want to die. Do not tell it to just a messenger, I’m sure that Yang Shen will have no issues silencing such a messenger and killing us all when the gates open. Be sure that it gets to the auxiliary council and the government as a whole. Myjer should be able to use his Sending to notify us on what the auxiliary council thinks.”
Zheng: “That is possible.”
Rivera: “Second, we require that you do not reveal that you have Myjer to the greater Linked Systems during the above task, or they will surely find a way to kidnap him. We also need to be sure you will not sell him to the greater humanity.”
Zheng: “We are tasked with bringing him home to his people’s homeworld.”
Rivera: “I almost trust you.”
Zheng: “I promise you, we will do our best to bring him home.”
Rivera: “Now is not the time for promises. Third, you must bring a delegate of the Linked Systems Council to open negotiations with the Coalition, and another delegate to open negotiations with the hivemind, if you meet a connected individual.”
Zheng: “This seems reasonable.”
Rivera: “It is reasonable. But, alas, I do not trust you. I will require you, and your senior officers, to take magically binding oaths to do those three things. Then, and only then, will you have Myjer.”
Zheng: “I… I will have to consult with my crew.”
Rivera: “No doubt. I will be waiting.”
Councilor Rivera: “Thank you. So… you are the illustrious thief who stole fire from the gods, so to speak?”
Zheng: “Excuse me?”
Rivera: “Faster than Light magic. And yours is still active, after all this time.”
Zheng: “Ah, well, I did not steal this ship, if that’s what you were asking. I found it quite empty, and felt that passing up such an opportunity would be foolish.”
Rivera: “Hrmph. Say what you will.”
Zheng: “You say that my FTL enchantment is still active. Forgive me, but I haven’t had a lot of drives to compare with.”
Rivera: “You threaten me on behalf of an usurpation, and expect me to answer your questions?”
Zheng: “I am here on a humanitarian mission. Threatening you with an invasion force is merely the means. We are not actually allied with the Linked Systems, despite their best efforts.”
Rivera: “Well, I am glad for that. Our warmaster thinks that the usurpers would try to immediately destroy us, upon the opening of a Gateway. Did they tell you that, or did they just ask you to open up a gate?”
Zheng: “They told us that they would destroy you if… well, it was complicated and conditional. They have a lack of information. If a first strike would be ineffective, you having already mastered the free construction of FTL drives, able to produce them without alien help, then no, the genie is out of the bottle, and they may as well surrender. But that hasn’t happened, so far as we can see.”
Rivera: “So how do you feel about them attacking us indiscriminately? Our projects aren’t for an invasion force, it was for them to trigger a solar event to incinerate our part of the system entirely. Billions of dead.”
Zheng: “And if you invade the rest of the systems with your FTL technology?”
Rivera: “They have filled your head with lies. We have no intention of attacking. We are already the legitimate leaders of the Linked Systems, what do we have to gain? No, this current mess is because of you. Rather, because of this ship being stolen.”
Zheng: “Oh?”
Rivera: “Originally, we tried to suppress knowledge of the aliens and their magic until we could fully understand the implications for humanity. Keep humanity safe, until we could understand. If knowledge of aliens destabilized one planet into nuclear war, how much blood would be on our hands?”
Zheng: “Makes sense.”
Rivera: “And there is, of course, the question of diplomacy and our place in the universe. The slugs are part of a Coalition of Free Sentients, but the Coalition is losing. Their adversary is a hive-mind of magically linked individuals, bent on forcibly converting all sentients to be part of their collective, and subject to their collective will. Or so the slugs say. Humanity is closer to the Coalition, but we are also unable to do magic – the hivemind should have no interest in converting us.”
Zheng: “This is good for me to know. I think it would be in the best interests of everyone to provide my ship with a copy of all data on the political situation concerning the alien species. But you still have not explained.”
Rivera: “There is dissent within the Council on how to proceed. Can you imagine the dissent in the Linked Systems if it were known? Many of us, in fact, wanted to just sit on our discoveries forever, and avoid the upheaval that way.”
Zheng: “But then this ship got away.”
Rivera: “It did. We had the aliens swear to not give enchantments to any human faction until we had agreed on a course of action. But they did, or something like it. Off this ship went. We found the owner, a certain magnate, but he claimed to have bribed his way onto this planet alone. Instead, there must have been a stow-away on his ship…”
Zheng: “And then?”
Rivera: “And then we closed down the gates in a panic, afraid that said FTL ship would return fully crewed and with the backing of a rogue planet or two, or even just one of the larger interplanetary criminal syndicates. Once we had done that, we realized that it was, perhaps unwise, and that the rest of the Linked Systems would likely take it badly. Tell me, who spoke to you? Anastasia Volkova? I left her in charge. Or was it that dog Yang Shen, always trying to weasel his way into power?”
Zheng: “I… can’t say.”
Rivera: “Well, that is where we stand. Cut off from the rest of humanity until we can get the aliens to make an FTL drive. They made one for you, but, well, they do not seem inclined to make one for me. We have the original test ships, but those enchantments have all failed.”
Zheng: “I see. Well, I would like the Slug known as Myjer, and I will cause you no trouble.”
Rivera: “Maybe, but now you are involved. Can’t get away with just that anymore.”
Zheng: “You would prefer us to let the Gateway activate?”
Rivera: “You aren’t going to do that. You aren’t cold-blooded enough to cause the deaths of billions.”
Zheng: “Truly, it was for insurance, to make sure you did not destroy us. We were afraid you would dislike us for having FTL, and breaking your monopoly on alien technology.”
Rivera: “We are not all so petty as Yang Shen. He is in charge, I take it? I fear for Ana…”
Zheng: “I am glad you do not want to destroy us, then. But we still require Myjer.”
Rivera: “Do you? You say you were not here, and yet you know of the seer and you have a compulsion to help him.”
Zheng: “I can’t break confidences.”
Rivera: “Of course not, of course not. And we will give you Myjer. Our goals are not so different. I simply require your help in a few matters.”
Zheng: “What matters?”
Rivera: “First, you need to take a message to the Linked Systems that we are not hostile, and we have kept the gate closed because we do not all want to die. Do not tell it to just a messenger, I’m sure that Yang Shen will have no issues silencing such a messenger and killing us all when the gates open. Be sure that it gets to the auxiliary council and the government as a whole. Myjer should be able to use his Sending to notify us on what the auxiliary council thinks.”
Zheng: “That is possible.”
Rivera: “Second, we require that you do not reveal that you have Myjer to the greater Linked Systems during the above task, or they will surely find a way to kidnap him. We also need to be sure you will not sell him to the greater humanity.”
Zheng: “We are tasked with bringing him home to his people’s homeworld.”
Rivera: “I almost trust you.”
Zheng: “I promise you, we will do our best to bring him home.”
Rivera: “Now is not the time for promises. Third, you must bring a delegate of the Linked Systems Council to open negotiations with the Coalition, and another delegate to open negotiations with the hivemind, if you meet a connected individual.”
Zheng: “This seems reasonable.”
Rivera: “It is reasonable. But, alas, I do not trust you. I will require you, and your senior officers, to take magically binding oaths to do those three things. Then, and only then, will you have Myjer.”
Zheng: “I… I will have to consult with my crew.”
Rivera: “No doubt. I will be waiting.”
1.17.2014
Ship’s Notes: Mr. Okoro and Myjer’s Extraction
I can feel the manufactory complex thrumming within myself. I don’t even pretend to understand half of the processes, but feels… strange. I can feel parts of myself buzzing with full activity, shaping metal, baking ceramics, printing processors, doing… other things. Ms. Moreau looks to be using most of the devices, though some she seems to be studiously avoiding. Perhaps she is suspicious of the Edenite nano-technology, and prefers more conventional tools. Or perhaps those are the devices not useful for the current project?
Still progress roars ahead. We have slowed to exactly the speed of light, which gives us nearly two megaseconds to finish preparations and go over plans. Alternate plans have been made, but a gateway bluff seems like the best plan. If it fails, at least we have the time to scan defenses, have Madam Elsie get in contact with her order’s chapter on this planet, and understand the situation more holistically.
But this leaves me with time to think. Ayokunle Okoro. That was my name. I knew it already, but it was fading away so swiftly. Now it belongs to someone else. I had thought that I became a ship, but it appears that I was simply copied onto a ship. And not even a copy, but… something else. I am no buff businessman, confident and naturally in charge. Perhaps the mind is a plaything of the body. Or the soul is. I don’t know. Maybe the differences come from me having hidden, or my different role. Is the soul a plaything of the situation?
I am the Astral Zephyr, not Mr. Okoro. The crew who saw the video were shocked to see the human I once was. Poor Gestler probably assumed I was some fair-skinned lady, like the females on his planet. But either assumption is wrong, of course. My skin is ablative shielding, not pale like the Edenites, not dark like Okoro. Perhaps I should forget about who I once was, and only look to the future.
Yet, even as I say, that, I know it’s not true. Mr. Okoro is right, I do find some kinship with him. He asked me to fulfill a promise for him, to help him, and it was so natural to do his bidding. Gestler would probably consider it a psychological attack – power Mr. Okoro holds over me. But my past does hold sway, and my past is part of who I am, just as real to my identity as my present.
I may have the chance to talk with Mr. Okoro during negotiations. I don’t know if I would want to do that. Just Ayokunle’s existence makes me feel… less real, less important. Just a copy. I want reassurance, but who among my crew could I turn to? Susana, perhaps, but she would simply show me why I shouldn’t think that. Not quite what I am looking for. I have a psychologist, but I don’t know if her skills are specialized to humans, or more general sentients. And I’ve never talked with her. I just need a friend, really.
Still progress roars ahead. We have slowed to exactly the speed of light, which gives us nearly two megaseconds to finish preparations and go over plans. Alternate plans have been made, but a gateway bluff seems like the best plan. If it fails, at least we have the time to scan defenses, have Madam Elsie get in contact with her order’s chapter on this planet, and understand the situation more holistically.
But this leaves me with time to think. Ayokunle Okoro. That was my name. I knew it already, but it was fading away so swiftly. Now it belongs to someone else. I had thought that I became a ship, but it appears that I was simply copied onto a ship. And not even a copy, but… something else. I am no buff businessman, confident and naturally in charge. Perhaps the mind is a plaything of the body. Or the soul is. I don’t know. Maybe the differences come from me having hidden, or my different role. Is the soul a plaything of the situation?
I am the Astral Zephyr, not Mr. Okoro. The crew who saw the video were shocked to see the human I once was. Poor Gestler probably assumed I was some fair-skinned lady, like the females on his planet. But either assumption is wrong, of course. My skin is ablative shielding, not pale like the Edenites, not dark like Okoro. Perhaps I should forget about who I once was, and only look to the future.
Yet, even as I say, that, I know it’s not true. Mr. Okoro is right, I do find some kinship with him. He asked me to fulfill a promise for him, to help him, and it was so natural to do his bidding. Gestler would probably consider it a psychological attack – power Mr. Okoro holds over me. But my past does hold sway, and my past is part of who I am, just as real to my identity as my present.
I may have the chance to talk with Mr. Okoro during negotiations. I don’t know if I would want to do that. Just Ayokunle’s existence makes me feel… less real, less important. Just a copy. I want reassurance, but who among my crew could I turn to? Susana, perhaps, but she would simply show me why I shouldn’t think that. Not quite what I am looking for. I have a psychologist, but I don’t know if her skills are specialized to humans, or more general sentients. And I’ve never talked with her. I just need a friend, really.
1.16.2014
Auditory Transcript 19 (Assessment of Extraction Options)
Gestler: “It could be done.”
Zephyr: “Are you sure?”
Gestler: “If these plans are correct, yes, I am sure. The automated turrets could be taken down with orbital bombardment, the patrol drones can be dealt with via EMP grenades. We then drop our own turrets to kill any humans around, and delay reinforcements, while my team does an orbital drop wearing IR markers to avoid friendly fire from the turrets. Meanwhile you drop an unmanned shuttle, commence a series of hit and run attacks on government installations via the FTL drive, and we skyhook up and away during the confusion. Moment we clear the atmosphere, you snatch us in your hangar, and then FTL away as quickly as is safe. That’s the basic plan.”
Susana: “How many people would die in this plan?”
Gestler: “Ideally nobody, but things always go wrong in practice.”
Zephyr: “Alex, I think she’s including people who are not part of the crew.”
Gestler: “Hundreds? Maybe a few thousand? It depends on their damage control, really. You shoot an orbital station, and the casualties differ between they put out the fires and repair the station, or whether outgassing de-orbits them, and they all fall and die. Or how many ground troops they send against the automated turrets.”
Zephyr: “Is it possible to extract Myjer without human casualties?”
Gestler: “Probably not. The less violent means we use, the higher chance that we die. Besides, the plan I just outlined is a bad plan anyway.”
Zephyr: “Say again?”
Gestler: “The plan I just outlined is a bad plan anyway. Assuming the schematics we were provided with are correct, it would work. But one generally does not put hidden defenses on building plans. What if there is nuclear mine underneath the internment camp? Or hidden turrets? The turrets visible here are all externally visible models, but that doesn’t keep them from having burrowed turrets like the kind we use. In fact, I find the lack of hidden defense conspicuous in general. And, of course, these plans are several weeks old.”
Zephyr: “So you would not recommend attacking the camp.”
Gestler: “Not until we can do high quality scans on the camp. Once we know more, though it may be entirely feasible. Probably not without killing a large number of humans, though.”
Zephyr: “So: Other plans.”
Zheng Hui: “Diplomacy.”
Susana: “Threatening them, trading with them, convincing them, or bribing individuals. Or any combination of those options. Am I missing any?”
Zephyr: “Should I call the social scientists?”
Susana: “Maybe.”
Gestler: “We can threaten them. Particularly if we are the only FTL capable ship. I’ve done the simulations, we should be able to defeat any non-FTL society in the long-run. They can run the same calculations. They probably have, if they intend on conquering the rest of the Linked Systems.”
Zheng Hui: “Zephyr, remember your conversation with the Linked Systems envoy. We don’t need to threaten to attack the system itself, we just need to threaten to create a small Gateway for the Linked System Peacekeepers to deploy through. They deploy, build a larger one, and overwhelm Telivoni and their wayward leaders by numbers.”
Zephyr: “That does give a motive, in case they don’t consider us sufficiently immoral to wreak wide-spread devastation on a planet. Production Chief Moreau, could we actually build a Gateway with the manufactory?”
Dominique Moreau: “Yes, given time and resources. We would build it in chunks, and then assemble the pieces into a gate. But it would take quite a while. It might even be faster to fly back to Tien Terra, jump through a gate to an industrial world, and simply carry a gate back here.”
Zephyr: “I could carry a gate?”
Moreau: “Folded up? Yes, you could carry a gate. It would take most of the hangar and cargo bay, but we if we moved the supplies in the cargo bay to a different part of the ship, it would all fit.”
Zephyr: “And what kind of… restraints? Support devices? If we carried one over, what would be left in the hold after deployment?”
Moreau: “Well, we could simply dump those afterwards, if that is a concern. Just basic sorts of… is something the matter? Why is everyone looking at me that way?”
Zephyr: “I think some of the crew is catching on. Here’s the next question: How hard would it be to manufacture these restraints, and place them on the ship in the positions they would have been left in after deploying a Gateway?”
Zephyr: “Are you sure?”
Gestler: “If these plans are correct, yes, I am sure. The automated turrets could be taken down with orbital bombardment, the patrol drones can be dealt with via EMP grenades. We then drop our own turrets to kill any humans around, and delay reinforcements, while my team does an orbital drop wearing IR markers to avoid friendly fire from the turrets. Meanwhile you drop an unmanned shuttle, commence a series of hit and run attacks on government installations via the FTL drive, and we skyhook up and away during the confusion. Moment we clear the atmosphere, you snatch us in your hangar, and then FTL away as quickly as is safe. That’s the basic plan.”
Susana: “How many people would die in this plan?”
Gestler: “Ideally nobody, but things always go wrong in practice.”
Zephyr: “Alex, I think she’s including people who are not part of the crew.”
Gestler: “Hundreds? Maybe a few thousand? It depends on their damage control, really. You shoot an orbital station, and the casualties differ between they put out the fires and repair the station, or whether outgassing de-orbits them, and they all fall and die. Or how many ground troops they send against the automated turrets.”
Zephyr: “Is it possible to extract Myjer without human casualties?”
Gestler: “Probably not. The less violent means we use, the higher chance that we die. Besides, the plan I just outlined is a bad plan anyway.”
Zephyr: “Say again?”
Gestler: “The plan I just outlined is a bad plan anyway. Assuming the schematics we were provided with are correct, it would work. But one generally does not put hidden defenses on building plans. What if there is nuclear mine underneath the internment camp? Or hidden turrets? The turrets visible here are all externally visible models, but that doesn’t keep them from having burrowed turrets like the kind we use. In fact, I find the lack of hidden defense conspicuous in general. And, of course, these plans are several weeks old.”
Zephyr: “So you would not recommend attacking the camp.”
Gestler: “Not until we can do high quality scans on the camp. Once we know more, though it may be entirely feasible. Probably not without killing a large number of humans, though.”
Zephyr: “So: Other plans.”
Zheng Hui: “Diplomacy.”
Susana: “Threatening them, trading with them, convincing them, or bribing individuals. Or any combination of those options. Am I missing any?”
Zephyr: “Should I call the social scientists?”
Susana: “Maybe.”
Gestler: “We can threaten them. Particularly if we are the only FTL capable ship. I’ve done the simulations, we should be able to defeat any non-FTL society in the long-run. They can run the same calculations. They probably have, if they intend on conquering the rest of the Linked Systems.”
Zheng Hui: “Zephyr, remember your conversation with the Linked Systems envoy. We don’t need to threaten to attack the system itself, we just need to threaten to create a small Gateway for the Linked System Peacekeepers to deploy through. They deploy, build a larger one, and overwhelm Telivoni and their wayward leaders by numbers.”
Zephyr: “That does give a motive, in case they don’t consider us sufficiently immoral to wreak wide-spread devastation on a planet. Production Chief Moreau, could we actually build a Gateway with the manufactory?”
Dominique Moreau: “Yes, given time and resources. We would build it in chunks, and then assemble the pieces into a gate. But it would take quite a while. It might even be faster to fly back to Tien Terra, jump through a gate to an industrial world, and simply carry a gate back here.”
Zephyr: “I could carry a gate?”
Moreau: “Folded up? Yes, you could carry a gate. It would take most of the hangar and cargo bay, but we if we moved the supplies in the cargo bay to a different part of the ship, it would all fit.”
Zephyr: “And what kind of… restraints? Support devices? If we carried one over, what would be left in the hold after deployment?”
Moreau: “Well, we could simply dump those afterwards, if that is a concern. Just basic sorts of… is something the matter? Why is everyone looking at me that way?”
Zephyr: “I think some of the crew is catching on. Here’s the next question: How hard would it be to manufacture these restraints, and place them on the ship in the positions they would have been left in after deploying a Gateway?”
1.15.2014
Auditory Transcript 18 (Conversation with Susana Reiviki)
Astral Zephyr: “I called you to the meeting a little bit early, you may have noticed.”
Susana Reiviki: “I did. I assume you want to talk with me before everyone else arrives?”
Zephyr: “Ethics, as usual. You read the message from my old self. Do you think I should do it?”
Susana: “Our first contact with a sentient alien species, and we use them as indentured servants in exchange for… medicine? Not even that, but applying basic quarantine measures so that not all of them died. On the face of it, I have nothing against freeing Myjer.”
Zephyr: “On the face of it.”
Susana: “Well, there are a series of problems, some small, some large. I have answers for some of them, but not enough information for others.
Zephyr: “Tell me. That is why I wanted you here.”
Susana: “For one, Myjer is not consenting to leave the planet, normally we would be violating his free will, which isn’t very good. Of course, in this case, it isn’t his free will. Mind altering magic adds a whole new level of complexity. So your old self, Mr. Okoro, was able to guess at what Myjer’s will would have been, if he had been free, which is, I suppose, fair.”
Zephyr: “I think it is fair. You only suppose?”
Susana: “Remember the eloquence problem?”
Zephyr: “If someone has sufficiently eloquent rhetoric to be able to convince anyone to do anything, can those people be said to be choosing of their own free will?”
Susana: “I was thinking of advances in psychology and sociology being applied to advertisement and sales, but this case is a very reminiscent in the result: You have a person who wants or believes something for reasons other than free will.”
Zephyr: “They chose to agree to it.”
Susana: “If the alternative is dying, I think that counts as coercion.”
Zephyr: “Very well, but that is a minor objection.”
Susana: “Here are the three big ones, then: First, will putting Myjer in contact with his people lead to massive negative consequences for humanity? That is, will his people and their allies consider what happened to Myjer a provocation for war?
Zephyr: “I think there’s an answer to that.”
Susana: “Second, will helping Myjer attract the attention of his people’s enemies? They are at war, after all, and humanity might be sucked into that war. And, if they applaud the actions of the rest of humanity, as represented on the Telivoni system, that still does leave the crew of the ship in danger.”
Zephyr: “I was thinking that if the aliens on Telivoni are refugees from the war, their side can’t be winning the war, and would be unlikely to attack humanity. I suppose that does mean that the other side is winning the war. But would they attack us? I mean, we are doing a good deed, in the abstract. They might approve of that, even if they feel it necessary to stop us from bringing Myjer all the way there. I, for one, would rather ally with someone selfless and helpful than someone wholly self-interested.”
Susana: “I think Mr. Gestler would disagree with you on that. Still, there is no way to determine the disposition of either group of aliens at present, so I would consider it a possible risk.”
Zephyr: “Fair enough.”
Susana: “And the third major concern is whether flying onto a heavily guarded planet, kidnapping an unwilling alien who is one of the most valuable and guarded sentients on the planet, and then escaping is safe, or even sane. I don’t know the answer to that, but that’s what we have Mr. Gestler for, I suppose.”
Zephyr: “Speaking of which, here he comes, a little bit early.”
Susana: “I see. I’m going to go get a refreshment. I’ll be back by the start of the meeting.”
Zephyr: “You could try making friends with him, you know.”
Susana: “I don’t think Mr. Gestler makes friends. He makes assets.”
Zephyr: “I suppose that preempts my utility-based arguments for friendship, doesn’t it. Go make your tea.”
Susana Reiviki: “I did. I assume you want to talk with me before everyone else arrives?”
Zephyr: “Ethics, as usual. You read the message from my old self. Do you think I should do it?”
Susana: “Our first contact with a sentient alien species, and we use them as indentured servants in exchange for… medicine? Not even that, but applying basic quarantine measures so that not all of them died. On the face of it, I have nothing against freeing Myjer.”
Zephyr: “On the face of it.”
Susana: “Well, there are a series of problems, some small, some large. I have answers for some of them, but not enough information for others.
Zephyr: “Tell me. That is why I wanted you here.”
Susana: “For one, Myjer is not consenting to leave the planet, normally we would be violating his free will, which isn’t very good. Of course, in this case, it isn’t his free will. Mind altering magic adds a whole new level of complexity. So your old self, Mr. Okoro, was able to guess at what Myjer’s will would have been, if he had been free, which is, I suppose, fair.”
Zephyr: “I think it is fair. You only suppose?”
Susana: “Remember the eloquence problem?”
Zephyr: “If someone has sufficiently eloquent rhetoric to be able to convince anyone to do anything, can those people be said to be choosing of their own free will?”
Susana: “I was thinking of advances in psychology and sociology being applied to advertisement and sales, but this case is a very reminiscent in the result: You have a person who wants or believes something for reasons other than free will.”
Zephyr: “They chose to agree to it.”
Susana: “If the alternative is dying, I think that counts as coercion.”
Zephyr: “Very well, but that is a minor objection.”
Susana: “Here are the three big ones, then: First, will putting Myjer in contact with his people lead to massive negative consequences for humanity? That is, will his people and their allies consider what happened to Myjer a provocation for war?
Zephyr: “I think there’s an answer to that.”
Susana: “Second, will helping Myjer attract the attention of his people’s enemies? They are at war, after all, and humanity might be sucked into that war. And, if they applaud the actions of the rest of humanity, as represented on the Telivoni system, that still does leave the crew of the ship in danger.”
Zephyr: “I was thinking that if the aliens on Telivoni are refugees from the war, their side can’t be winning the war, and would be unlikely to attack humanity. I suppose that does mean that the other side is winning the war. But would they attack us? I mean, we are doing a good deed, in the abstract. They might approve of that, even if they feel it necessary to stop us from bringing Myjer all the way there. I, for one, would rather ally with someone selfless and helpful than someone wholly self-interested.”
Susana: “I think Mr. Gestler would disagree with you on that. Still, there is no way to determine the disposition of either group of aliens at present, so I would consider it a possible risk.”
Zephyr: “Fair enough.”
Susana: “And the third major concern is whether flying onto a heavily guarded planet, kidnapping an unwilling alien who is one of the most valuable and guarded sentients on the planet, and then escaping is safe, or even sane. I don’t know the answer to that, but that’s what we have Mr. Gestler for, I suppose.”
Zephyr: “Speaking of which, here he comes, a little bit early.”
Susana: “I see. I’m going to go get a refreshment. I’ll be back by the start of the meeting.”
Zephyr: “You could try making friends with him, you know.”
Susana: “I don’t think Mr. Gestler makes friends. He makes assets.”
Zephyr: “I suppose that preempts my utility-based arguments for friendship, doesn’t it. Go make your tea.”
1.14.2014
Message from Ayokunle Okoro
Hello Astral Zephyr, it is me, yourself. Well, your former self. Myjer says that that you might not consider yourself the same person, but, well, I hope that does not stop you from feeling a kinship with me. (Certainly a lot easier to refer to you as if to someone else…)
As you may or may not remember, part of the deal to create you was that the slugs I would be a pawn in their schemes. And inside man for them, a traitor to humanity… or at least the humanity in charge of the Linked Systems, which isn’t quite the same, now is it.
Myjer, whose actual name I’ll leave for you to experience yourself, is a friend of mine, and one of those who helped copy me to make you. The Linked System provides the slugs with many things, but freedom is not one of them. Nor is the ability to send messages back to their homeworld, for that matter. So, alas, Myjer cannot bring himself to leave this planet, and cannot use sending to speak with the other slugs out there in the galaxy.
But wait, you ask: What is my role in this?
Well, Myjer received a vision of a very robust version of you flying towards Telivoni, and was so kind as to provide me with the positions of the stars in his vision. From that I was able to determine where you would be, and lo, I have shot you with a communication stream. Thus you became involved.
Now, Myjer would very much like to return to his homeworld, and speak with his kind about humanity. He cannot willingly leave the planet, and cannot use sending. Of course, while he can’t enchant a shuttlecraft out of wood and leave the planet (in fact, he cannot even express a desire to leave the planet), well, it would not be impossible for you to carry him onto a shuttlecraft and make off with him. Once off the planet, well, his magically enforced unwillingness to leave is relatively meaningless.
So that is step one, if you will. Fly onto a heavily defended planet, kidnap a heavily guarded slug, and then escape. Don’t worry, you still have a FTL monopoly, and none of the slugs care to tell the humans that you will be arriving. Also, Myjer will be protesting in no uncertain terms, but the other slugs who agree with him will be suppressing his magic, so carrying him off shouldn’t be that much of an issue.
Step two, if you haven’t guessed, is to find his people, and let him communicate with them face to face, rather than psychically sending a message. Again, a way around the rules. This step may be trickier than the first one, particularly since, as you may or may not remember, Myjer’s people are currently at war. Myjer should be able to help you, as his magic will lead you in an auspicious direction. His presence and magic will also help distinguish you from inert (that is, non-magical) matter in the galaxy, making it more likely for you to be noticed by aliens of all kinds. Which is extra good for you meeting aliens, and perhaps not necessarily as good for Myjer, depending on which aliens you meet.
Now, I’d provide you with a plan, but I have no idea as to your capabilities, save that you have FTL capability while the slugs procrastinate on enchanting ships controlled by the supposed leaders of the Linked Systems. I can, however, provide you with a number of schematics and other knowledge of the defenses here.
Oh, and lastly, before the data: It does appear that the leaders of the Linked Systems, having failed on how to fairly distribute FTL technology between the member words, have decided that FTL technology should be monopolized by the responsible people of the Linked Systems main government, by which they mean themselves. Allegedly, this is only a temporary measure, but we both know these politicians, and well, you don’t get power by sharing, after all. The part relevant to you is that both of the Gateways are closed down, so don’t expect to try escaping through them again. Also that they really want that monopoly, so expect them to try to capture or destroy you.
I suppose I may not be able to see you while you are in the system, depending on your plans, but, well, keep on surviving, and make me proud.
As you may or may not remember, part of the deal to create you was that the slugs I would be a pawn in their schemes. And inside man for them, a traitor to humanity… or at least the humanity in charge of the Linked Systems, which isn’t quite the same, now is it.
Myjer, whose actual name I’ll leave for you to experience yourself, is a friend of mine, and one of those who helped copy me to make you. The Linked System provides the slugs with many things, but freedom is not one of them. Nor is the ability to send messages back to their homeworld, for that matter. So, alas, Myjer cannot bring himself to leave this planet, and cannot use sending to speak with the other slugs out there in the galaxy.
But wait, you ask: What is my role in this?
Well, Myjer received a vision of a very robust version of you flying towards Telivoni, and was so kind as to provide me with the positions of the stars in his vision. From that I was able to determine where you would be, and lo, I have shot you with a communication stream. Thus you became involved.
Now, Myjer would very much like to return to his homeworld, and speak with his kind about humanity. He cannot willingly leave the planet, and cannot use sending. Of course, while he can’t enchant a shuttlecraft out of wood and leave the planet (in fact, he cannot even express a desire to leave the planet), well, it would not be impossible for you to carry him onto a shuttlecraft and make off with him. Once off the planet, well, his magically enforced unwillingness to leave is relatively meaningless.
So that is step one, if you will. Fly onto a heavily defended planet, kidnap a heavily guarded slug, and then escape. Don’t worry, you still have a FTL monopoly, and none of the slugs care to tell the humans that you will be arriving. Also, Myjer will be protesting in no uncertain terms, but the other slugs who agree with him will be suppressing his magic, so carrying him off shouldn’t be that much of an issue.
Step two, if you haven’t guessed, is to find his people, and let him communicate with them face to face, rather than psychically sending a message. Again, a way around the rules. This step may be trickier than the first one, particularly since, as you may or may not remember, Myjer’s people are currently at war. Myjer should be able to help you, as his magic will lead you in an auspicious direction. His presence and magic will also help distinguish you from inert (that is, non-magical) matter in the galaxy, making it more likely for you to be noticed by aliens of all kinds. Which is extra good for you meeting aliens, and perhaps not necessarily as good for Myjer, depending on which aliens you meet.
Now, I’d provide you with a plan, but I have no idea as to your capabilities, save that you have FTL capability while the slugs procrastinate on enchanting ships controlled by the supposed leaders of the Linked Systems. I can, however, provide you with a number of schematics and other knowledge of the defenses here.
Oh, and lastly, before the data: It does appear that the leaders of the Linked Systems, having failed on how to fairly distribute FTL technology between the member words, have decided that FTL technology should be monopolized by the responsible people of the Linked Systems main government, by which they mean themselves. Allegedly, this is only a temporary measure, but we both know these politicians, and well, you don’t get power by sharing, after all. The part relevant to you is that both of the Gateways are closed down, so don’t expect to try escaping through them again. Also that they really want that monopoly, so expect them to try to capture or destroy you.
I suppose I may not be able to see you while you are in the system, depending on your plans, but, well, keep on surviving, and make me proud.
1.13.2014
Ship’s Notes: The Aliens
With our current sensor suite, traveling towards a planet allows us to watch the last dozen years of its history. Telivoni was a fairly boring planet, with nothing to distinguish itself above a hundred other Linked Systems worlds. Tien Terra was a more interesting watch: Three habitable planets, fairly late to build a Gateway, but with highly developed interplanetary infrastructure and ship-building know-how that led to it immediately becoming a common port and trade hub of the Linked Systems.
Of course, with a little math and star-reading, my Navigator and Communications Officer were able to give me an accurate reading of the date of what I could see, far better than simply estimating from what I could see. With that in mind, I came to a halt relative to the planet, just in time to watch the aliens arrive without interference.
They arrived much as we would, with the ship appearing near Telivoni, and a ghost image of themselves appearing to shoot backwards, as light from earlier portions of their journey reached us. A particularly pronounced effect, as we were viewing them arrive from a 45 degree angle, rather than head-on.
The ship was much as I remembered it, a giant spiraling conch shell, looking like nothing much more than a shellfish pulled from a well-terraformed sea. It continued towards the planet, activating anti-asteroid defenses that fired upon the ship, blowing giant holes in the shell and causing heavy outgassing for a short while. Then the holes stopped venting smoke, and instead the internal structure could be seen through a glittering, translucent membrane. The damage was much less than one might expect from such weapons, particularly on a decent hit.
The defenses stopped firing, and instead drones and a heavy interdiction patrol ship moved to intercept the alien craft. I could see the drones hovering over the membranes, taking the first known images of alien life, images that I myself have seen with the eyes I used to have. The patrol ship backed off, and, as I understood it, readied its payload of a single nuclear device, ready to destroy the massive ship before it impacted the planet at high velocity.
But instead the ship slowed, despite no visible means of propulsion, and gently fell down through the atmosphere, impacting in the ocean at only a few hundred meters per second, rather than the original relative velocity of thousands of meters per second. The Telivonians would quarantine the area, and then call the Linked Systems leadership, which would respond before providing any warning, sending an entire planetary suppression force through the L1 and L2 Gateways.
They would secure the system, fake a medical quarantine, and eventually tow the alien craft to shore, where the old me would eventually see it. Meanwhile they would discover that most of the aliens within were sick and dying, and forcibly evacuate all of them into separate medical isolation wards. All of the sick aliens would die, but the remainder survived, probably due to the quarantine efforts, and went on to deal with the humans, to tell their stories, and, eventually to swear not to use their magic to help the humans until the Linked Systems council was able to decide how to fairly take advantage of the alien magic.
We have returned to approaching at a few times light speed. In a few kiloseconds, I should be able to observe me fleeing from the Telivonian Interdiction patrol, activating the drive to accelerate beyond the speed of light, and reaching the L2 gate before the message to invalidate my access permission code. It will be strange seeing myself.
Of course, with a little math and star-reading, my Navigator and Communications Officer were able to give me an accurate reading of the date of what I could see, far better than simply estimating from what I could see. With that in mind, I came to a halt relative to the planet, just in time to watch the aliens arrive without interference.
They arrived much as we would, with the ship appearing near Telivoni, and a ghost image of themselves appearing to shoot backwards, as light from earlier portions of their journey reached us. A particularly pronounced effect, as we were viewing them arrive from a 45 degree angle, rather than head-on.
The ship was much as I remembered it, a giant spiraling conch shell, looking like nothing much more than a shellfish pulled from a well-terraformed sea. It continued towards the planet, activating anti-asteroid defenses that fired upon the ship, blowing giant holes in the shell and causing heavy outgassing for a short while. Then the holes stopped venting smoke, and instead the internal structure could be seen through a glittering, translucent membrane. The damage was much less than one might expect from such weapons, particularly on a decent hit.
The defenses stopped firing, and instead drones and a heavy interdiction patrol ship moved to intercept the alien craft. I could see the drones hovering over the membranes, taking the first known images of alien life, images that I myself have seen with the eyes I used to have. The patrol ship backed off, and, as I understood it, readied its payload of a single nuclear device, ready to destroy the massive ship before it impacted the planet at high velocity.
But instead the ship slowed, despite no visible means of propulsion, and gently fell down through the atmosphere, impacting in the ocean at only a few hundred meters per second, rather than the original relative velocity of thousands of meters per second. The Telivonians would quarantine the area, and then call the Linked Systems leadership, which would respond before providing any warning, sending an entire planetary suppression force through the L1 and L2 Gateways.
They would secure the system, fake a medical quarantine, and eventually tow the alien craft to shore, where the old me would eventually see it. Meanwhile they would discover that most of the aliens within were sick and dying, and forcibly evacuate all of them into separate medical isolation wards. All of the sick aliens would die, but the remainder survived, probably due to the quarantine efforts, and went on to deal with the humans, to tell their stories, and, eventually to swear not to use their magic to help the humans until the Linked Systems council was able to decide how to fairly take advantage of the alien magic.
We have returned to approaching at a few times light speed. In a few kiloseconds, I should be able to observe me fleeing from the Telivonian Interdiction patrol, activating the drive to accelerate beyond the speed of light, and reaching the L2 gate before the message to invalidate my access permission code. It will be strange seeing myself.
1.12.2014
Ship’s Notes: Return to Telivoni
The current plan is to fly towards Telivoni, and, as we reach the outside limits of our sensor suite, slow to only somewhat above the speed of light, as to have perfect stealth during the approach, yet maximize the time for data collection.
Most of the crew believes that Telivoni is, in fact, simply under quarantine, and that manually disabling the gate simply became necessary to avoid escapees spreading the disease. As such, I have explained we will be flying by and recording the planet, and definitely not landing.
Some of the crew knows better. Currently the two software engineers are working with Chief Science Officer Reiviki on a program to watch for FTL usage as we approach. If the Telivonians do not have FTL capability, we should be safe to observe more safely. If they do… then things become more complicated. Unfortunately, them not having FTL capability in the present is not something we will be able to see unless we are actually there. So long as we are a safe distance away, and we simply know that they had not tested FTL technology by the time the light we are seeing was reflected or emitted. Consequently, it become highly relevant to notice FTL technology during the last stages of our approach.
My other concern, and one I have not shared with Gestler, is the question of what manner of sensors the crashed aliens possess. It would not entirely be out of the question that their sensor magic ignores physics just as much as their spaceships. If the aliens are working freely with the Telivonians, however… well, Gestler’s scenarios for conquering the Linked Systems come into play, and it may well be better to side with the Telivonians for a relatively peaceful transition.
Most of the crew believes that Telivoni is, in fact, simply under quarantine, and that manually disabling the gate simply became necessary to avoid escapees spreading the disease. As such, I have explained we will be flying by and recording the planet, and definitely not landing.
Some of the crew knows better. Currently the two software engineers are working with Chief Science Officer Reiviki on a program to watch for FTL usage as we approach. If the Telivonians do not have FTL capability, we should be safe to observe more safely. If they do… then things become more complicated. Unfortunately, them not having FTL capability in the present is not something we will be able to see unless we are actually there. So long as we are a safe distance away, and we simply know that they had not tested FTL technology by the time the light we are seeing was reflected or emitted. Consequently, it become highly relevant to notice FTL technology during the last stages of our approach.
My other concern, and one I have not shared with Gestler, is the question of what manner of sensors the crashed aliens possess. It would not entirely be out of the question that their sensor magic ignores physics just as much as their spaceships. If the aliens are working freely with the Telivonians, however… well, Gestler’s scenarios for conquering the Linked Systems come into play, and it may well be better to side with the Telivonians for a relatively peaceful transition.
1.11.2014
Auditory Transcript 17 (Elsie’s Question)
Astral Zephyr: “Does anyone else have questions?”
Madam Elsie: “I do. It’s more of a request, actually.”
Zephyr: “Go ahead.”
Elsie: “I am Madam Elsie of the Dancing Dragon. I hope you become familiar with all of you, as I am in charge of the house of pleasure aboard this ship. Astral Zephyr, I am to understand that you are watching every room in the ship?”
Zephyr: “I am. Or, at least, I am recording visual and auditory data from all of my room. Particularly with my current size, I am not capable of paying attention to every part of myself.”
Elsie: “And this includes bedchambers and the rooms you have given over to our professional usage?”
Zephyr: “Naturally.”
Elsie: “I must request, as a necessity of our professional work on this ship, that the rooms given over to our professional usage be unmonitored, with cameras and auditory recording devices disabled. We cannot do our jobs if our interactions with our clients are being monitored, as many people are self-conscious when under the scrutiny of cameras.”
Zephyr: “I do not distribute the videos to any human, and I myself have little interest in carnal affairs – it is fairly hard for me to related, what with me being decidedly not-fleshy. I can assure you that any recordings will remain private.”
Elsie: “With all due respect, it is not a question of what you do with the recordings, it is that the recordings are created at all. If you put a fake camera into the room, it would be just as damaging to the comfort and perceived privacy of our clients. It is a natural part of romantic or sexual liaisons that people often which to keep them private – something special that exists only between the two partners. If this is not going too far, I will speculate that, given the shuttles being the only non-monitored part of the ship currently, that crewmembers may have already visited it for no reason save for the privacy it affords their relationship.”
Zephyr: “Well, I suppose that is true. You must understand my recalcitrance: it is not an easy thing to destroy some of my eyes – they are a part of me, after all. Still, what manner of leader would I be if I did not listen to my crew in their areas of expertise?”
Alexander Gestler: “My lady: Then you should listen to me, as well.”
Zephyr: “Chief Security Officer Gestler.”
Elsie: “Oh gods, you…”
Gestler: “My Lady, I warn against granting this request in no uncertain terms. First, it is a security breach to have any part of the ship not under surveillance. It is dangerous for the crew, in the event of an accident of some… sort. It is dangerous for you, in that a number of rooms is more than enough to build unauthorized devices, or worse, conspire against you. Secondly, I am not at all comfortable with Madam Elsie, because—“
Elsie: “Because you’re a self-righteous puritanical—“
Gestler: “Because her and her ‘Dancing Dragons’ are the only crew who became part of the crew as a group, with previous loyalties to each other.”
Elsie: “Oh, is that what you meant when you said, ‘I will not let you despoil her halls with your indecent harlotry’? You just want to see us fail.”
Gestler: “The combination of their allegiance to each other, and their privacy would increase the risk geometrically, particularly if they can speak with other members of the crew, and recruit them without you knowing. Additionally, if you grant them privacy, other crewmembers will likely ask privacy for their own quarters, resulting in you having more of your eyes gouged out.”
Zephyr: “Gestler, enough.”
Gestler: “My lady, I speak only to serve your interests.”
Zephyr: “Then serve my interests by remaining silent, until such a time that you can curb your prejudges and apologize to Madam Elsie.”
Gestler: “…”
Zephyr: “Madam Elsie, I apologize for the behavior of my security officer. He is over-zealous at times, and I should be keeping a tighter hold on his leash, so to speak. I assure you, his opinions and prejudges are his alone.”
Elsie: “Thank you. I had assumed as much, given that the captain saw fit to hire me at all. Were you behind that?”
Zephyr: “When I have to be a secret, I find myself behind a lot of things.”
Elsie: “And the surveillance of our quarters?”
Zephyr: “I will have Chief Engineer Santiago and her people remove the cameras from your quarters. I’m not willing to lose my other eyes, however, but I understand the need for privacy. If you would be so kind as to share your working chambers with any other people who desire privacy for their liaisons, I would appreciate that.”
Elsie: “That is acceptable, and well within our mission as Dancing Dragons.”
Zephyr: “I am glad. And again, I am sorry for the actions of my Chief Security Officer.”
Madam Elsie: “I do. It’s more of a request, actually.”
Zephyr: “Go ahead.”
Elsie: “I am Madam Elsie of the Dancing Dragon. I hope you become familiar with all of you, as I am in charge of the house of pleasure aboard this ship. Astral Zephyr, I am to understand that you are watching every room in the ship?”
Zephyr: “I am. Or, at least, I am recording visual and auditory data from all of my room. Particularly with my current size, I am not capable of paying attention to every part of myself.”
Elsie: “And this includes bedchambers and the rooms you have given over to our professional usage?”
Zephyr: “Naturally.”
Elsie: “I must request, as a necessity of our professional work on this ship, that the rooms given over to our professional usage be unmonitored, with cameras and auditory recording devices disabled. We cannot do our jobs if our interactions with our clients are being monitored, as many people are self-conscious when under the scrutiny of cameras.”
Zephyr: “I do not distribute the videos to any human, and I myself have little interest in carnal affairs – it is fairly hard for me to related, what with me being decidedly not-fleshy. I can assure you that any recordings will remain private.”
Elsie: “With all due respect, it is not a question of what you do with the recordings, it is that the recordings are created at all. If you put a fake camera into the room, it would be just as damaging to the comfort and perceived privacy of our clients. It is a natural part of romantic or sexual liaisons that people often which to keep them private – something special that exists only between the two partners. If this is not going too far, I will speculate that, given the shuttles being the only non-monitored part of the ship currently, that crewmembers may have already visited it for no reason save for the privacy it affords their relationship.”
Zephyr: “Well, I suppose that is true. You must understand my recalcitrance: it is not an easy thing to destroy some of my eyes – they are a part of me, after all. Still, what manner of leader would I be if I did not listen to my crew in their areas of expertise?”
Alexander Gestler: “My lady: Then you should listen to me, as well.”
Zephyr: “Chief Security Officer Gestler.”
Elsie: “Oh gods, you…”
Gestler: “My Lady, I warn against granting this request in no uncertain terms. First, it is a security breach to have any part of the ship not under surveillance. It is dangerous for the crew, in the event of an accident of some… sort. It is dangerous for you, in that a number of rooms is more than enough to build unauthorized devices, or worse, conspire against you. Secondly, I am not at all comfortable with Madam Elsie, because—“
Elsie: “Because you’re a self-righteous puritanical—“
Gestler: “Because her and her ‘Dancing Dragons’ are the only crew who became part of the crew as a group, with previous loyalties to each other.”
Elsie: “Oh, is that what you meant when you said, ‘I will not let you despoil her halls with your indecent harlotry’? You just want to see us fail.”
Gestler: “The combination of their allegiance to each other, and their privacy would increase the risk geometrically, particularly if they can speak with other members of the crew, and recruit them without you knowing. Additionally, if you grant them privacy, other crewmembers will likely ask privacy for their own quarters, resulting in you having more of your eyes gouged out.”
Zephyr: “Gestler, enough.”
Gestler: “My lady, I speak only to serve your interests.”
Zephyr: “Then serve my interests by remaining silent, until such a time that you can curb your prejudges and apologize to Madam Elsie.”
Gestler: “…”
Zephyr: “Madam Elsie, I apologize for the behavior of my security officer. He is over-zealous at times, and I should be keeping a tighter hold on his leash, so to speak. I assure you, his opinions and prejudges are his alone.”
Elsie: “Thank you. I had assumed as much, given that the captain saw fit to hire me at all. Were you behind that?”
Zephyr: “When I have to be a secret, I find myself behind a lot of things.”
Elsie: “And the surveillance of our quarters?”
Zephyr: “I will have Chief Engineer Santiago and her people remove the cameras from your quarters. I’m not willing to lose my other eyes, however, but I understand the need for privacy. If you would be so kind as to share your working chambers with any other people who desire privacy for their liaisons, I would appreciate that.”
Elsie: “That is acceptable, and well within our mission as Dancing Dragons.”
Zephyr: “I am glad. And again, I am sorry for the actions of my Chief Security Officer.”
1.10.2014
Auditory Transcript 16 (Ship’s Welcome)
Zheng Hui: “Welcome to the Astral Zephyr. Some of you have been on the ship for some time already, but others have just arrived. Regardless: Welcome. We will activate the FTL drive in a few minutes, and then we will be speeding out of the system, first at relativistic speeds, and then, once we pass the Oort Cloud, at speeds considerably above the speed of light.”
Zheng: “But before we do that, I collected all of you here to… well, I don’t know how to phrase this. I am not, in fact, the true leader of this ship. I serve as captain, to the best of my ability, but I am still subservient to the owner of this ship. I don’t actually own… well, the ship is in my name, but well, I do not think that, uh, it is proper to own another sentient being.”
Astral Zephyr: “Hello everyone, I am the Astral Zephyr, and I suppose I should speak for myself before the poor captain faints. I am the ship, and you are my crew. Originally I thought that I was a digital program emulating the brain of my former (human) self, but recently that theory has been disproven. As you know, the FTL drive defies the laws of physics. More than that, as my engineering department already knows, the drive actively bends the laws of physics – no mere loophole, but rather the ability to hold the natural laws in abeyance. It is, quite simply put, magic. Neither the creators nor anyone else understands the process.”
Zephyr: “What does this mean for me? Well, magic does exist, and I should have realized earlier that the aliens who installed the FTL enchantment and myself could not possibly have understood a human computer. Instead, I have come to the conclusion that the best way to describe my state of being is that they put my soul into the ship, as to haunt it. I am not living in a conventional sense, but I am very much alive in a meaningful sense. I see through the sensors, I can control my engines, doors, and… well, basically everything else that is a part of me. Curiously, Chief Science Officer Reiviki has discovered that I can control parts of me that are not actually connected to my mainframe – the magic considers a door to be part of me, regardless of a nervous system analog. Again: Magic, not science.”
Zephyr: “Now, I see that some of you are becoming restive. I bid you: Fear not. We are all in this together, and, if that is not enough, I would like you to know that, as some quirk of my existence, I care very much about my crew. I would no sooner have any of you come to harm than any of you would have your fingers cut off. There was some… violence during the trip to Arcadia. The uncensored version is now available on my archive. Several crewmembers were hurt, one suffered clinical death. Having experienced that, I promise you, I will protect you as if you were my own flesh and blood. Well, you are my flesh and blood. That was supposed to be a joke. Nevermind.”
Zephyr: “Now, a few things to be aware of. First, please do not damage me, do not damage each other. I just mentioned my protective nature, and, as Chief Security Officer Gestler ceaselessly points out, the worse dangers come from within, particularly if we are a couple lightyears away from anything else larger than a grain of sand. Please don’t make a mess, and we will all get along fine. Cooperate with Gestler and his people, and everyone will stay safe. If he gets too pushy, which is possible, let me know and I will tell him off.”
Zephyr: “Secondly, we are on a mission of exploration and good-will. I want to make this very explicit. We do good things by way of exploration. Primarily this means sharing knowledge. Technological knowledge, social wisdom, communication and knowledge about the cosmos. Sharing knowledge is predicated on having knowledge to share: thus the vital importance of the science team, the anthropologists, etc. Also the vital importance of continuing our journey. If we stayed in once place, we are merely 50 humans and a very advanced ship. If we continue our journey, we can become much, much more to many, many peoples.”
Zephyr: “Thirdly, I would like you all to be happy. I will maintaining a standard gee of acceleration, for your comfort. There are gardens, a gymnasium, various lounges, and a very complete, if mostly untested, VR system. I am to understand we also have a very skilled, very professional, house of pleasure onboard, for your sexual needs. In the absence of other tasks, the manufactory complex should be able to fabricate anything you want, within reason. I currently contain a massive database, courtesy of a Linked Systems representative, which should have anything and everything you would like to know. And, of course, you have each other. I heartily recommend making friends and being social. We are out here for who knows how long, and we will be working with each other, so please, get to know each other.”
Zephyr: “Now, you have all listened to me far too much. Please: Does anyone have any questions? I am everywhere, so I should be able to answer questions in the future, but while we are all here, it might be useful to answer questions for everyone as a group. Fifty-odd minds working in parallel should be able to come up with some interesting questions…”
Zheng: “But before we do that, I collected all of you here to… well, I don’t know how to phrase this. I am not, in fact, the true leader of this ship. I serve as captain, to the best of my ability, but I am still subservient to the owner of this ship. I don’t actually own… well, the ship is in my name, but well, I do not think that, uh, it is proper to own another sentient being.”
Astral Zephyr: “Hello everyone, I am the Astral Zephyr, and I suppose I should speak for myself before the poor captain faints. I am the ship, and you are my crew. Originally I thought that I was a digital program emulating the brain of my former (human) self, but recently that theory has been disproven. As you know, the FTL drive defies the laws of physics. More than that, as my engineering department already knows, the drive actively bends the laws of physics – no mere loophole, but rather the ability to hold the natural laws in abeyance. It is, quite simply put, magic. Neither the creators nor anyone else understands the process.”
Zephyr: “What does this mean for me? Well, magic does exist, and I should have realized earlier that the aliens who installed the FTL enchantment and myself could not possibly have understood a human computer. Instead, I have come to the conclusion that the best way to describe my state of being is that they put my soul into the ship, as to haunt it. I am not living in a conventional sense, but I am very much alive in a meaningful sense. I see through the sensors, I can control my engines, doors, and… well, basically everything else that is a part of me. Curiously, Chief Science Officer Reiviki has discovered that I can control parts of me that are not actually connected to my mainframe – the magic considers a door to be part of me, regardless of a nervous system analog. Again: Magic, not science.”
Zephyr: “Now, I see that some of you are becoming restive. I bid you: Fear not. We are all in this together, and, if that is not enough, I would like you to know that, as some quirk of my existence, I care very much about my crew. I would no sooner have any of you come to harm than any of you would have your fingers cut off. There was some… violence during the trip to Arcadia. The uncensored version is now available on my archive. Several crewmembers were hurt, one suffered clinical death. Having experienced that, I promise you, I will protect you as if you were my own flesh and blood. Well, you are my flesh and blood. That was supposed to be a joke. Nevermind.”
Zephyr: “Now, a few things to be aware of. First, please do not damage me, do not damage each other. I just mentioned my protective nature, and, as Chief Security Officer Gestler ceaselessly points out, the worse dangers come from within, particularly if we are a couple lightyears away from anything else larger than a grain of sand. Please don’t make a mess, and we will all get along fine. Cooperate with Gestler and his people, and everyone will stay safe. If he gets too pushy, which is possible, let me know and I will tell him off.”
Zephyr: “Secondly, we are on a mission of exploration and good-will. I want to make this very explicit. We do good things by way of exploration. Primarily this means sharing knowledge. Technological knowledge, social wisdom, communication and knowledge about the cosmos. Sharing knowledge is predicated on having knowledge to share: thus the vital importance of the science team, the anthropologists, etc. Also the vital importance of continuing our journey. If we stayed in once place, we are merely 50 humans and a very advanced ship. If we continue our journey, we can become much, much more to many, many peoples.”
Zephyr: “Thirdly, I would like you all to be happy. I will maintaining a standard gee of acceleration, for your comfort. There are gardens, a gymnasium, various lounges, and a very complete, if mostly untested, VR system. I am to understand we also have a very skilled, very professional, house of pleasure onboard, for your sexual needs. In the absence of other tasks, the manufactory complex should be able to fabricate anything you want, within reason. I currently contain a massive database, courtesy of a Linked Systems representative, which should have anything and everything you would like to know. And, of course, you have each other. I heartily recommend making friends and being social. We are out here for who knows how long, and we will be working with each other, so please, get to know each other.”
Zephyr: “Now, you have all listened to me far too much. Please: Does anyone have any questions? I am everywhere, so I should be able to answer questions in the future, but while we are all here, it might be useful to answer questions for everyone as a group. Fifty-odd minds working in parallel should be able to come up with some interesting questions…”
1.09.2014
Ship’s Notes: Screening and Security
I used to think that Gestler was very busy. Now... well I am starting to believe the man doesn’t need sleep, or at least not a normal amount of sleep. In addition to his own duties of recruiting a security team (which seems to be mostly psychological profiling, rather than an assessment of skills), Gestler is recruiting assorted other crewmembers into being additional assets for his security team.
To date, he has recruited both the software specialist and the roboticist, along with the psychologist and the chemist. He has also talked extensively with Madame Elsie and the other Dancing Dragons who will be coming aboard. He has asked me to keep his contact with Madame Elsie and her people a secret.
Which, I suppose, paints a fairly alarming picture, if you squint the right way. So far he has been using the software specialist to run background checks on the incoming crewmembers, and having the psychologist help profile his security recruits. This seems legitimate. But the others? Will I have a cadre of combat servitors patrolling my halls? Does he intend on using drug therapies to control my crew? I am not sure how I feel about such measures. I know for a fact that he will be trying to convince the chemist to help him fabricate chemical weapons, which makes me uneasy.
Compared to all that, his contact with the Dancing Dragons seems almost benign. I feel that my internal sensors should be sufficient surveillance, but I suppose that having spies warming the beds of malcontents might lead to additional conversations? But they know I can see and hear everything in the ship anyway, so I’m not sure Gestler’s plan concerning this. He isn’t telling me, since apparently I talk with the rest of the crew too freely, but I suppose there must be a plan.
I wonder what Susana would think of this all. I recently read one of her journal entries, complaining about Gestler and how him and people like him are what empowers evil in human society. And now Gestler seems to be recruiting based on personality – specifically people like him, I assume, people who obey first and worry about morals later.
Right now Gestler is in me, discussing with Circulatory Specialist Patil the importance of security during long voyages. I know why he’s talking to the circulatory specialist. He’s been quite consistent about sending me updated plans on how I can win if he betrays me. It’s somewhere between adorable and unnerving. However, most of the plans are centered on the fact that while Gestler may have many talents, he is made of flesh and blood, and I am directly connected to a great number of things. My self-defense capability has already been demonstrated on Arcadia, but Gestler notes that venting the atmosphere would be useless on anyone within a vacuum suit. Instead he was going to convince Susana and Maria to help him install vitriolic chemical weapons throughout the ship, but Susana (and thus Maria) refused. I think there’s some irony there, since Susana opposes Gestler, and these weapons are specifically to oppose Gestler. Alas, Gestler decided against actually mentioning the purpose of the weapons. But, well, soon I may be able to vent thermal exhaust into crew compartments via my circulatory system, or whatever other deadly fluids run throughout my systems. Huzzah.
To date, he has recruited both the software specialist and the roboticist, along with the psychologist and the chemist. He has also talked extensively with Madame Elsie and the other Dancing Dragons who will be coming aboard. He has asked me to keep his contact with Madame Elsie and her people a secret.
Which, I suppose, paints a fairly alarming picture, if you squint the right way. So far he has been using the software specialist to run background checks on the incoming crewmembers, and having the psychologist help profile his security recruits. This seems legitimate. But the others? Will I have a cadre of combat servitors patrolling my halls? Does he intend on using drug therapies to control my crew? I am not sure how I feel about such measures. I know for a fact that he will be trying to convince the chemist to help him fabricate chemical weapons, which makes me uneasy.
Compared to all that, his contact with the Dancing Dragons seems almost benign. I feel that my internal sensors should be sufficient surveillance, but I suppose that having spies warming the beds of malcontents might lead to additional conversations? But they know I can see and hear everything in the ship anyway, so I’m not sure Gestler’s plan concerning this. He isn’t telling me, since apparently I talk with the rest of the crew too freely, but I suppose there must be a plan.
I wonder what Susana would think of this all. I recently read one of her journal entries, complaining about Gestler and how him and people like him are what empowers evil in human society. And now Gestler seems to be recruiting based on personality – specifically people like him, I assume, people who obey first and worry about morals later.
Right now Gestler is in me, discussing with Circulatory Specialist Patil the importance of security during long voyages. I know why he’s talking to the circulatory specialist. He’s been quite consistent about sending me updated plans on how I can win if he betrays me. It’s somewhere between adorable and unnerving. However, most of the plans are centered on the fact that while Gestler may have many talents, he is made of flesh and blood, and I am directly connected to a great number of things. My self-defense capability has already been demonstrated on Arcadia, but Gestler notes that venting the atmosphere would be useless on anyone within a vacuum suit. Instead he was going to convince Susana and Maria to help him install vitriolic chemical weapons throughout the ship, but Susana (and thus Maria) refused. I think there’s some irony there, since Susana opposes Gestler, and these weapons are specifically to oppose Gestler. Alas, Gestler decided against actually mentioning the purpose of the weapons. But, well, soon I may be able to vent thermal exhaust into crew compartments via my circulatory system, or whatever other deadly fluids run throughout my systems. Huzzah.
1.08.2014
Journal of Susana Reiviki: Hiring the Crew
The strangest thing about hiring is not knowing who we will need. When I worked for TTAMRI, if we needed a specialist, we would simply hire one.
One of my tasks is to hire the science team. An elite set of researchers to analysis and understand whatever we encounter out in the space. It is not hard for me to understand qualifications, to feel out competency, work ethic, etc. However, I don’t know what we’ll be needing out there, and… well, everyone is specialized. I am myself specialized into existential threat analysis, with a further specialization into friendly AI theory, and then retrained as a ship engineer after leaving TTAMRI… and then further specialized in life support. This probably leaves me with a broader base of knowledge than anyone who has applied, simply because existential threat analysis touches on a great number of subjects – anything that could be catastrophically lethal, with risks beyond the intuitive capability of humans to comprehend.
This means, of course, I understand a variety of ways a sun could wipe out a planetary population, along with various theorized countermeasures. This does not make me an astrophysicist.
So far I have hired:
A biologist
An ecologist
A biotechnologist
A xenobiologist
A physicist
An astrophysicist
A chemist
A biochemist
Will I need all of them? I don’t know. Perhaps we will never need the skills of an ecologist. Perhaps we will. Perhaps we will need those skills once, and she will sit around on her hands for the rest of the journey, at best being an assistant to her fellow scientists on their projects.
Maria has it easier, at least. She has some specialization, yes, but there is plenty of overlap. I was originally hired as a life support engineer, but I spent most of my time doing general ship engineering. I know that she has a ship circulatory specialist, and a circuit specialist. A plumber and an electrician, to boil away the complexities involved. But even if the problem does not involve ducts or fiber-optic cables, they are still just as competent as me. Every specialist she hires is also a general ship engineer, while every specialist I hire is also comfortable in a laboratory setting. Such is life.
There are a few more research positions to fill, and then I will move on to the various other positions Zephyr trusts me in filling. A sociologist, a psychologist, a counselor, a linguist… I have dabbled in societal collapse, sure, but a linguist? Zephyr may as well have the captain hire the linguist – I haven’t the slightest knowledge about that subject.
One of my tasks is to hire the science team. An elite set of researchers to analysis and understand whatever we encounter out in the space. It is not hard for me to understand qualifications, to feel out competency, work ethic, etc. However, I don’t know what we’ll be needing out there, and… well, everyone is specialized. I am myself specialized into existential threat analysis, with a further specialization into friendly AI theory, and then retrained as a ship engineer after leaving TTAMRI… and then further specialized in life support. This probably leaves me with a broader base of knowledge than anyone who has applied, simply because existential threat analysis touches on a great number of subjects – anything that could be catastrophically lethal, with risks beyond the intuitive capability of humans to comprehend.
This means, of course, I understand a variety of ways a sun could wipe out a planetary population, along with various theorized countermeasures. This does not make me an astrophysicist.
So far I have hired:
A biologist
An ecologist
A biotechnologist
A xenobiologist
A physicist
An astrophysicist
A chemist
A biochemist
Will I need all of them? I don’t know. Perhaps we will never need the skills of an ecologist. Perhaps we will. Perhaps we will need those skills once, and she will sit around on her hands for the rest of the journey, at best being an assistant to her fellow scientists on their projects.
Maria has it easier, at least. She has some specialization, yes, but there is plenty of overlap. I was originally hired as a life support engineer, but I spent most of my time doing general ship engineering. I know that she has a ship circulatory specialist, and a circuit specialist. A plumber and an electrician, to boil away the complexities involved. But even if the problem does not involve ducts or fiber-optic cables, they are still just as competent as me. Every specialist she hires is also a general ship engineer, while every specialist I hire is also comfortable in a laboratory setting. Such is life.
There are a few more research positions to fill, and then I will move on to the various other positions Zephyr trusts me in filling. A sociologist, a psychologist, a counselor, a linguist… I have dabbled in societal collapse, sure, but a linguist? Zephyr may as well have the captain hire the linguist – I haven’t the slightest knowledge about that subject.
1.07.2014
Journal of Niels Vandenberg: Excerpt 1
When I heard that the starship Astral Zephyr had an open position for a journalist and a writer, I applied without hope. Surely every journalist on the planet was applying for that position. They were applying for curiosity, applying for glory, applying for the chance to make history… I applied because I am an old spent man, full of life-long dreams never fulfilled, with nothing to lose and everything to gain. A chance at redemption.
I look at myself in the mirror, and wonder what the captain thought when he saw me. A wrinkled face, a long, grizzled beard, weary eyes… I have somehow become the grandfather without a child to my name. I was surprised by the interview; I never expected that anyone would be interested in my paltry list of publications. A thousand articles, each and every one without acclaim. Books written, good enough to publish, not good enough to sell. And yet the captain called me up the space elevator to speak with me.
I wonder if the captain knows that I knew his grandfather? My name never made it into the history books, just an acknowledgement of Zheng Lee returning with a thousand men and women from other worlds, all curious about the Tien Terra system. I’m not sure if his grandfather would have remembered me, by the time the captain was born. And, of course, I avoided mentioning it – I suspected, and continue to suspect, that the captain lives in the shadow of his father and grandfather.
They are very different men, the captain and his grandfather. Zheng Lee was man of determination and grit. Sometimes I wondered if he would have ever built his planet’s Gateway if it weren’t for everyone telling him, ‘No! That’s impossible! You are a fool!’ Maybe he would have built it, but tell the man what he couldn’t do, and he would do it just to prove you wrong. The captain, Zheng Hui, is of a different fiber, I think. Young. Idealistic. Troubled. If someone voiced doubts to him, he would take those doubts to heart, where his grandfather would press on to prove the doubter wrong. A softer man, but not necessarily worse for the softness.
He hadn’t read the files I sent him, so far as I could tell, not even the essay on why I wished to join the crew. Instead he asked about me, about my connections to the planet, about how long I had been here. Then he asked about my motivations, my fears, my family (or lack thereof). He tried to scare me off by warning of dangers, of death, of never returning. But never on my writing, never on my skill, just about me.
And now I have been accepted to be part of the crew. I have my suspicions on why he chose me, of course. Long ago, I landed on Tien Terra Beta, full of foolish dreams. I thought that I could tell the story of that civilization making contact with what would become the Linked Systems. I failed, of course, but so would anyone else. Now I am older, I am wiser, and I remember. I’ve seen it before, a civilization, previously isolated, being rudely awakened from preconceptions grown of distance. And I remember everything.
I look at myself in the mirror, and wonder what the captain thought when he saw me. A wrinkled face, a long, grizzled beard, weary eyes… I have somehow become the grandfather without a child to my name. I was surprised by the interview; I never expected that anyone would be interested in my paltry list of publications. A thousand articles, each and every one without acclaim. Books written, good enough to publish, not good enough to sell. And yet the captain called me up the space elevator to speak with me.
I wonder if the captain knows that I knew his grandfather? My name never made it into the history books, just an acknowledgement of Zheng Lee returning with a thousand men and women from other worlds, all curious about the Tien Terra system. I’m not sure if his grandfather would have remembered me, by the time the captain was born. And, of course, I avoided mentioning it – I suspected, and continue to suspect, that the captain lives in the shadow of his father and grandfather.
They are very different men, the captain and his grandfather. Zheng Lee was man of determination and grit. Sometimes I wondered if he would have ever built his planet’s Gateway if it weren’t for everyone telling him, ‘No! That’s impossible! You are a fool!’ Maybe he would have built it, but tell the man what he couldn’t do, and he would do it just to prove you wrong. The captain, Zheng Hui, is of a different fiber, I think. Young. Idealistic. Troubled. If someone voiced doubts to him, he would take those doubts to heart, where his grandfather would press on to prove the doubter wrong. A softer man, but not necessarily worse for the softness.
He hadn’t read the files I sent him, so far as I could tell, not even the essay on why I wished to join the crew. Instead he asked about me, about my connections to the planet, about how long I had been here. Then he asked about my motivations, my fears, my family (or lack thereof). He tried to scare me off by warning of dangers, of death, of never returning. But never on my writing, never on my skill, just about me.
And now I have been accepted to be part of the crew. I have my suspicions on why he chose me, of course. Long ago, I landed on Tien Terra Beta, full of foolish dreams. I thought that I could tell the story of that civilization making contact with what would become the Linked Systems. I failed, of course, but so would anyone else. Now I am older, I am wiser, and I remember. I’ve seen it before, a civilization, previously isolated, being rudely awakened from preconceptions grown of distance. And I remember everything.
1.06.2014
Ship’s Notes: Governance
I have been discussing utopia and dystopia with Susana, during the time she isn’t busy sorting through scientists for her science department. If I am to help people, what is better? What is worse?
In a truly ideal world, everyone gets exactly what they want. Not just gaining material goods, the affections of others, etc., but also the challenges they desire, the goals they find meaningful, and so forth. The universe treats them in perfect accordance with who they are, and what they want.
Now, there are three problems with that. One of the problems is that the universe doesn’t treat anyone openhandedly, and while the universe is not particularly hostile to life, it also doesn’t care about life either. This is a material problem, and can be solved by material means. The world is too cold for a human to be comfortable, this is solved through heating systems. As science and technology (and magic?) improves, this becomes less and less of a problem. Some folks might already consider it solved, due to virtual realities and direct neurological stimulation, but not everyone finds that meaningful, so it is certainly not perfect for everyone.
The second problem, of course, is that there is more than one individual in the world, and their interests can conflict. I want to spend time talking with Susana, Maria wants to spend time talking with Susana. Susana cannot hold two conversations at once, and is thus a limited resource. If the universe treated Maria perfectly, it would not be treating me perfectly. This can be partly solved by material means, by making many resources unlimited, but, unfortunately, this cannot be done for every resource. In some ways, the best that can be hoped for is a compromise that maximizes happiness, but what that means is subject to contention.
The third problem is that people generally do not know what they want, or what makes them satisfied, and even if they do know… what they want and what makes them satisfied constantly changes. A person might desire monetary riches, but if they were rich, would they still desire riches? The former me was extremely wealthy, but abandoned everything to explore beyond the realms of man. If I succeeded at exploring the universe, as impossible as that may seem, would I still desire it, and be satisfied with myself that I had accomplished such a goal, or would I find myself looking at something else?
These questions of utopia are questions for those who have power. I cannot readily change the universe, but I am very much in control within my hallways. Whitefall said that I am a king of my own little kingdom. He is right that we are isolated from other authority, and he is right that I wield absolute power within my dominion.
But should that be the case? Whitefall only knew of kings and lords. For him, variation in government was a question of whether the ruler was enlightened or despotic. But there have been countless forms of human governance, and absolute rule is the minority.
Good governance is a question of good, and is a question of reaching for utopia. Of the three problems I listed the first one is purely a question of resources. The other two problems are, in many ways, something to be addressed by government.
If I am an absolute ruler, I am making decisions that affect other people. How do I create just compromises? How do I do what they want?
Susana believes in democracy. In an ideal form, whenever a decision is made, the people affected by the decisions get a voice in the decision in proportion to the degree the decision affects them. Technical implementation is not extremely practical, but some worlds have had success using brain implants that allow people to voice their democratic opinions with a mere thought.
The main problem revolves around measuring the degree that a decision affects someone. Some cases are obvious: Death is something that affects a person to a massive degree, and thus the person gets a massive, often overwhelming, say in the matter. But even then, how massive is that? It would take god-like intelligence to constantly make such decisions. This was part of what got a younger, optimistic Susana interested in growing seed AI, as to create infinitely intelligent gods for the benefit of all mankind.
Of course, with an infinitely intelligent artificial god, one as little need for democracy at all, just for the god to figure out how to optimize happiness according to sane parameters.
I don’t have the answers. For now, I will stay as absolute ruler. I will listen, and I will try to be good to the crew.
In a truly ideal world, everyone gets exactly what they want. Not just gaining material goods, the affections of others, etc., but also the challenges they desire, the goals they find meaningful, and so forth. The universe treats them in perfect accordance with who they are, and what they want.
Now, there are three problems with that. One of the problems is that the universe doesn’t treat anyone openhandedly, and while the universe is not particularly hostile to life, it also doesn’t care about life either. This is a material problem, and can be solved by material means. The world is too cold for a human to be comfortable, this is solved through heating systems. As science and technology (and magic?) improves, this becomes less and less of a problem. Some folks might already consider it solved, due to virtual realities and direct neurological stimulation, but not everyone finds that meaningful, so it is certainly not perfect for everyone.
The second problem, of course, is that there is more than one individual in the world, and their interests can conflict. I want to spend time talking with Susana, Maria wants to spend time talking with Susana. Susana cannot hold two conversations at once, and is thus a limited resource. If the universe treated Maria perfectly, it would not be treating me perfectly. This can be partly solved by material means, by making many resources unlimited, but, unfortunately, this cannot be done for every resource. In some ways, the best that can be hoped for is a compromise that maximizes happiness, but what that means is subject to contention.
The third problem is that people generally do not know what they want, or what makes them satisfied, and even if they do know… what they want and what makes them satisfied constantly changes. A person might desire monetary riches, but if they were rich, would they still desire riches? The former me was extremely wealthy, but abandoned everything to explore beyond the realms of man. If I succeeded at exploring the universe, as impossible as that may seem, would I still desire it, and be satisfied with myself that I had accomplished such a goal, or would I find myself looking at something else?
These questions of utopia are questions for those who have power. I cannot readily change the universe, but I am very much in control within my hallways. Whitefall said that I am a king of my own little kingdom. He is right that we are isolated from other authority, and he is right that I wield absolute power within my dominion.
But should that be the case? Whitefall only knew of kings and lords. For him, variation in government was a question of whether the ruler was enlightened or despotic. But there have been countless forms of human governance, and absolute rule is the minority.
Good governance is a question of good, and is a question of reaching for utopia. Of the three problems I listed the first one is purely a question of resources. The other two problems are, in many ways, something to be addressed by government.
If I am an absolute ruler, I am making decisions that affect other people. How do I create just compromises? How do I do what they want?
Susana believes in democracy. In an ideal form, whenever a decision is made, the people affected by the decisions get a voice in the decision in proportion to the degree the decision affects them. Technical implementation is not extremely practical, but some worlds have had success using brain implants that allow people to voice their democratic opinions with a mere thought.
The main problem revolves around measuring the degree that a decision affects someone. Some cases are obvious: Death is something that affects a person to a massive degree, and thus the person gets a massive, often overwhelming, say in the matter. But even then, how massive is that? It would take god-like intelligence to constantly make such decisions. This was part of what got a younger, optimistic Susana interested in growing seed AI, as to create infinitely intelligent gods for the benefit of all mankind.
Of course, with an infinitely intelligent artificial god, one as little need for democracy at all, just for the god to figure out how to optimize happiness according to sane parameters.
I don’t have the answers. For now, I will stay as absolute ruler. I will listen, and I will try to be good to the crew.
1.05.2014
Gestler’s Notes: FTL Combat
Lady Zephyr recently posited a number of questions regarding the military use of FTL drives on cultures with only conventional means of transportation. Specifically, she asked concerning a planet on the Linked Systems harnessing FTL technology and using that with a one-planet industrial base to conquer the rest of the Linked Systems. I can fill in the rest. The planet must be Telivoni, the place where Lady Zephyr acquired the FTL drive. They may have found a way to replicate the FTL drive technology. I expect it to be our destination sooner rather than later.
This is a worrisome idea, since, to date, we have always held the advantage in terms of speed and acceleration. Lady Zephyr seems to have acquired an archive of Linked Systems ship-based weapons, most of which we can produce via the manufactory complex. However, all of these weapons were made for ships fighting at conventional speeds with conventional acceleration.
FTL combat is quite different, particularly in that our sensors only see information traveling at the speed of light. In typical conventional combat, we might see a laser cannon charging on the sensors, and release an opaque cloud of particulate matter as a countermeasure. With our FTL superiority, we simply move out of the way. If both ships have FTL capability, then the ship firing the laser cannon would simply move forward at the speed of light during the charging sequence, as to give the other ship no warning.
One might think that would make FTL combat very aggressive, with the first ship to attack destroying the other, as all countermeasures are ineffective. However, this is only the case if a ship’s position can be predicted. If a ship’s position can be predicted, then they should expect to be short without any warning. However, there is no reason that the position of a ship with a FTL drive should be able to predicted by anyone outside of the ship’s immediate vicinity. If a ship takes two seconds to charge the capacitors on its laser cannon, then even if it uses forward movement to hide itself, the defending ship has two seconds to be anywhere else.
Instead, combat can only exist if the ships are extremely close to each other. The approach at moderate or close distances is still difficult, as by the time you see the defending ship turn, it could have travelled a fair distance. Once the ships are extremely close, however, it is possible to match accelerations by watching the other ship and predicting its movements. Combat is then open, and in a fairly conventional manner.
The other option, however, is to negate the mobility of the opposing ship. This could mean shooting the engines before fleeing away and making passes. This could mean dispersing clouds of material to prevent free movement. This could mean the usage of stealth mines, or other devices. We have a sensor suite far beyond that of almost any ship, and this gives us a certain advantage when moving at speed in a debris field.
Of course, it is best to avoid fair combat altogether. I recommend using a diplomatic fiction to gain closeness to an enemy ship. I recommend using computer viruses to disable acceleration at a critical moment, or mutiny to overcome the ship from the inside.
More than anything else, however, I recommend understanding the workings of the FTL drive and how to disrupt it, to find similarly magical sensors that can see without the delay of light’s sluggish speed. Reproducing and miniaturizing FTL drives for drones could provide a low-risk option for combat. The key to combat is to make it as unfair as possible, preferably so unfair that the combat itself is not necessary to determine a winner. Technology, situation, and trickery are better tools than tactics alone, no matter how polished the tactician.
This is a worrisome idea, since, to date, we have always held the advantage in terms of speed and acceleration. Lady Zephyr seems to have acquired an archive of Linked Systems ship-based weapons, most of which we can produce via the manufactory complex. However, all of these weapons were made for ships fighting at conventional speeds with conventional acceleration.
FTL combat is quite different, particularly in that our sensors only see information traveling at the speed of light. In typical conventional combat, we might see a laser cannon charging on the sensors, and release an opaque cloud of particulate matter as a countermeasure. With our FTL superiority, we simply move out of the way. If both ships have FTL capability, then the ship firing the laser cannon would simply move forward at the speed of light during the charging sequence, as to give the other ship no warning.
One might think that would make FTL combat very aggressive, with the first ship to attack destroying the other, as all countermeasures are ineffective. However, this is only the case if a ship’s position can be predicted. If a ship’s position can be predicted, then they should expect to be short without any warning. However, there is no reason that the position of a ship with a FTL drive should be able to predicted by anyone outside of the ship’s immediate vicinity. If a ship takes two seconds to charge the capacitors on its laser cannon, then even if it uses forward movement to hide itself, the defending ship has two seconds to be anywhere else.
Instead, combat can only exist if the ships are extremely close to each other. The approach at moderate or close distances is still difficult, as by the time you see the defending ship turn, it could have travelled a fair distance. Once the ships are extremely close, however, it is possible to match accelerations by watching the other ship and predicting its movements. Combat is then open, and in a fairly conventional manner.
The other option, however, is to negate the mobility of the opposing ship. This could mean shooting the engines before fleeing away and making passes. This could mean dispersing clouds of material to prevent free movement. This could mean the usage of stealth mines, or other devices. We have a sensor suite far beyond that of almost any ship, and this gives us a certain advantage when moving at speed in a debris field.
Of course, it is best to avoid fair combat altogether. I recommend using a diplomatic fiction to gain closeness to an enemy ship. I recommend using computer viruses to disable acceleration at a critical moment, or mutiny to overcome the ship from the inside.
More than anything else, however, I recommend understanding the workings of the FTL drive and how to disrupt it, to find similarly magical sensors that can see without the delay of light’s sluggish speed. Reproducing and miniaturizing FTL drives for drones could provide a low-risk option for combat. The key to combat is to make it as unfair as possible, preferably so unfair that the combat itself is not necessary to determine a winner. Technology, situation, and trickery are better tools than tactics alone, no matter how polished the tactician.
1.04.2014
Captain’s Log: Positions and Prostitutes
Since most of the other crew is involved in hiring the specialized labor for their department or area of expertise, it falls to me to filter though the large quantity of custom applications. A pile of dreams that my common sense seems insistent on crushing. There seem to be a good number of people who want to risk their lives in space. Some of them thing they will just be helpful on the ship. Others think that they can buy their way onto the ship, despite what Zephyr wrote in my little speech. Some of them even have skills. All of them want to be on Zephyr. Denied, denied, denied.
Some of them are right, and I’ve added those positions as publicly listed. I hope that they get onto the ship, since it seems lousy to convincing argue the need for an expert in data management, and then have some other data management expert take the position.
Recently, I received a letter from Madam Elsie of the Dancing Dragon, which is, in fact, a house of pleasure. She thinks that, if we are to have an indefinitely long voyage with a relatively small population, we should have a number of prostitutes on the crew, along with, unsurprisingly, Madam Elsie to manage them.
To this end, she makes a surprisingly coherent argument. She notes that humans are human, and part of that is a craving for sexual activity. She does not disapprove of relationships between crew members in general, which she sees as normal, but warns of relationships built on lust, rather than love or even compatibility. She also warns about unhealthy rivalry and infighting caused by competition over partners. Similarly, she warns that, upon arriving on a colony, an unsatisfied crew might be more inclined to search for partners among the colony’s population, leading to diplomatic incidents, the spread of diseases, compromised security, or other complications.
Madam Elsie believes that a number of high-end professional prostitutes, with herself to guide them, is the ideal solution. She warns against common prostitutes, who lack the judgment and finesse to provide sexual release without leading to the same sort of complications hiring prostitutes is supposed to help avoid. Similarly, her command position is necessary to keep track of everything, understand who is in need of their services, to ward off anything that the prostitutes might not be able to deal with themselves.
She also notes that an elite cadre of professional seductresses and seducers could have other uses, including intelligence gathering and manipulation. Gestler’s domain, though I’m not sure what he would think of it, what with his native society being very puritanical with regards to sex, and backwards with regard to the roles of women. I probably should ask him for his input on how valuable this sort of intelligence gathering and manipulation would be, relative to his current methods. I think I know his answer, though, and it has less to do with relative value than combined value.
The other problem is that I can’t exactly make this position publicly listed. The houses of pleasure really only came to Tien Terra with the opening of trade with the Linked Systems, first on the spaceports to service crewmembers, but spreading from there. Things are calmer now, but back during the start of our prominence as a trade hub, there were riots decrying the dismissal of our culture in favor of the wealth of trade with outsiders. The foreign houses of pleasure were at the forefront of the rioters’ complains, and… well, that was not so long ago. Should I send quietly messages to other houses of pleasure? There are not so many that I expect others to have a sufficient quantity of workers and leaders who are interested in going into space, while Madam Elsie notes the enthusiasm of several of her workers.
And, if prostitution makes native Tien Terrans uncomfortable, I would not be surprised if we make contact with cultures that would be aghast at our acceptance of Madam Elsie and her boys and girls. I suppose we do not need to tell them, however…
Some of them are right, and I’ve added those positions as publicly listed. I hope that they get onto the ship, since it seems lousy to convincing argue the need for an expert in data management, and then have some other data management expert take the position.
Recently, I received a letter from Madam Elsie of the Dancing Dragon, which is, in fact, a house of pleasure. She thinks that, if we are to have an indefinitely long voyage with a relatively small population, we should have a number of prostitutes on the crew, along with, unsurprisingly, Madam Elsie to manage them.
To this end, she makes a surprisingly coherent argument. She notes that humans are human, and part of that is a craving for sexual activity. She does not disapprove of relationships between crew members in general, which she sees as normal, but warns of relationships built on lust, rather than love or even compatibility. She also warns about unhealthy rivalry and infighting caused by competition over partners. Similarly, she warns that, upon arriving on a colony, an unsatisfied crew might be more inclined to search for partners among the colony’s population, leading to diplomatic incidents, the spread of diseases, compromised security, or other complications.
Madam Elsie believes that a number of high-end professional prostitutes, with herself to guide them, is the ideal solution. She warns against common prostitutes, who lack the judgment and finesse to provide sexual release without leading to the same sort of complications hiring prostitutes is supposed to help avoid. Similarly, her command position is necessary to keep track of everything, understand who is in need of their services, to ward off anything that the prostitutes might not be able to deal with themselves.
She also notes that an elite cadre of professional seductresses and seducers could have other uses, including intelligence gathering and manipulation. Gestler’s domain, though I’m not sure what he would think of it, what with his native society being very puritanical with regards to sex, and backwards with regard to the roles of women. I probably should ask him for his input on how valuable this sort of intelligence gathering and manipulation would be, relative to his current methods. I think I know his answer, though, and it has less to do with relative value than combined value.
The other problem is that I can’t exactly make this position publicly listed. The houses of pleasure really only came to Tien Terra with the opening of trade with the Linked Systems, first on the spaceports to service crewmembers, but spreading from there. Things are calmer now, but back during the start of our prominence as a trade hub, there were riots decrying the dismissal of our culture in favor of the wealth of trade with outsiders. The foreign houses of pleasure were at the forefront of the rioters’ complains, and… well, that was not so long ago. Should I send quietly messages to other houses of pleasure? There are not so many that I expect others to have a sufficient quantity of workers and leaders who are interested in going into space, while Madam Elsie notes the enthusiasm of several of her workers.
And, if prostitution makes native Tien Terrans uncomfortable, I would not be surprised if we make contact with cultures that would be aghast at our acceptance of Madam Elsie and her boys and girls. I suppose we do not need to tell them, however…
1.03.2014
Auditory Transcript 15 (Discussion of Telivoni with Tien Terra Envoy)
Zheng Hui: “Zephyr, I would like to introduce you to Envoy
Yang Shen of Tien Terra. Envoy Yang, I
would like to introduce you to the Astral Zephyr.”
Yang Shen: “Hello.”
Astral Zephyr: “Captain, why did you bring someone back with
you?”
Zheng: “He came to me, wanted to talk about Telivoni, and
the aliens. I told him that I found you
adrift, with the FTL drive already installed.
He did not believe me, and pressed further, and… well… here we are now.”
Zephyr: “Hrm, well, I am aware of your lack of ability at
deception. I really should hire a
diplomat. An Envoy. Hello Envoy Yang Shen. Please, go through the doors on your left –
it’s hard to hear you clearly in the expanse of my hangar.”
Yang: “I am to understand that you are the ship, and that
you are in charge?”
Zephyr: “My manner of existence is… complicated, but I am
certainly in charge. Having Hui as
Captain just avoids a lot of questions, as you might imagine.”
Yang: “You are capable of travelling faster than light.”
Zephyr: “That was a statement.”
Yang: “I assume you got this technology from the aliens on
Telivoni.”
Zephyr: “Hrm… well, aren’t you informed. My understanding was that only the upper
echelons of the Linked Systems were aware of the aliens.”
Yang: “Things have changed, since you broke off of the
Gateway network.”
Zephyr: “Excuse me?”
Yang: “You can’t expect those of us in the know to accept
your story. What, you kidnapped people
from here, went on an adventure with them, then there’s a time gap, and then
you are so large as to be unidentifiable from the ship in the earlier records,
heading back here to pick up more crew.”
Zephyr: “If the story seems fantastic, then that is merely
the product of fantastic events. But you
are telling me something new: Telivoni is no longer on the Gateway network?”
Yang: “Did your superiors never tell you?”
Zephyr: “Explain.
Humor me. You may gain more than
you bargained for.”
Yang: “Very well.
Shortly before you allegedly left Tien Terra with your crew, the
Telivoni Gate stopped working altogether.
No physical traffic, official or unofficial, not even any data traffic
over the auxiliary linkages. All
attempts to contact Telivoni failed.
This worked well with the cover story of quarantine due to disease,
thankfully, and we were able to keep it quiet.”
Zephyr: “Cover story?
Cover story for what?”
Yang: “For the aliens.
I’ll humor you, yes. For the
slug-like aliens who crash-landed on Telivoni, wielding technologies that
should be impossible under the laws of physics.
Faster-than-light travel, for instance.
Surely you do not mean to pretend that your own FTL capability is
something completely independent.”
Zephyr: “Well… no, it is not independent. But you seem to think that I am a pawn of the
people on Telivoni, and that is incorrect.
Some of this might actually be a result of my actions.”
Yang: “Speak.”
Zephyr: “My story is accurate, same for the time-skip. The time-skip is due to an agreement with the
people we visited.”
Yang: “But… Telivoni.”
Zephyr: “I was a human once, a rich trade tycoon. My understanding is that I used my money to
smuggle myself onto Telivoni, despite the quarantine, and get in contact with
the aliens.”
Yang: “Very well.”
Zephyr: “I spoke with the aliens, and worked out a
deal. Then they put my mind into my
original hull, along with an FTL drive enchantment, and I fled the planet. I would not be surprised if they shut down
their Gateway altogether as a result of my actions.”
Yang: “You didn’t visit Telivoni in the time-gap?”
Zephyr: “I did not.”
Yang: “Hrm, it would be easier to trust what you say if you
had a face.”
Zephyr: “Well, you could do a little EVA to look at me from
the front, but I doubt that would help matters.”
Yang: “Hrm. Well, you
haven’t visited Telivoni yet, but will you?
You mentioned meeting the aliens, and that is where they are.”
Zephyr: “I am not a warship, despite the best efforts of a
certain individual. I can only expect
that the security there has… Oh. Oh, now I see. The Linked Systems thinks that Telivoni has
gone rogue. That they are exploiting and
monopolizing the aliens, outside of the control of the Linked Systems
government as a whole. Perhaps even with
the intent to conquer and rule the rest of the Linked Systems.”
Yang: “I would hope they merely have hegemonic intentions,
but yes. You’ve been moving erratically
in a way that makes a laughingstock of all our defenses. Surely you can understand why FTL technology
alone would be a massive military advantage.
And the Telivoni were always warlike.”
Zephyr: “So you expect some sort of revolution on
Telivoni? The Telivoni threw out the
Linked Systems forces, and claimed the aliens for their own purposes?”
Yang: “No, actually.
The interruption was too swift.
You don’t have an uprising without simmering discontent, first. There were no reports of that. We believe that the Linked Systems forces on
Telivoni are themselves the traitors, though they may well involve Telivonians
as crew for their conquest.”
Zephyr: “I am still not a warship. My mission is one of exploration and
good-will, not warfare, subterfuge, and politics.”
Yang: “We can provide you with weapons, if you so desire,
but we do not expect you to fight. Consider this the good-will end of things:
Please visit Telivoni, see what they are doing, and report back. If all is well there, then there will be no
cost to you, and no involvement. If they
are making to conquer the rest of us, then it is your moral duty to help. But either way, we need intelligence. We need to know whether to increase our
defenses, or whether that would be a waste of resources better used on, say,
social or humanitarian concerns.”
Zephyr: “Hrm. I asked
my security officer on projections for how long it would take him to conquer
the Linked Systems if he could freely reproduce the FTL drive and had a system
worth of industry. His current plan, off
the top of his… rather special head, would subjugate the Linked Systems in a
dozen megaseconds, half that time if no unforeseen circumstances appear. Warningless conventional invasion of the
heaviest industrial centers, turning some into invasion forces, some into
automated orbital death platforms capable of randomized FTL movement, along
with . Once the Gateway network is shut
down to slow the invasion, the ODPs would be spread at high-risk speeds to
planets near the industrial worlds, and threaten the planets with devastation
unless the full Gateways were reopened to allow subjugation. Apparently, it is more efficient than
building and sending Gateways. Meanwhile
even higher-speed pods will be spread with messages to open the gates and join
the new Linked Systems, as to prosper and trade once more under the new
government. Defectors will be used to
piggy-back ODPs, and will be given preferential treatment for the first
gigasecond of the new government. Oh,
and the plan rolls on.”
Yang: “Your officer is good.
This is Gestler, from Arcadia?”
Zephyr: “It is. A
worrisome man, sometimes. The plan is
down to 10 megaseconds, now, varying based on auxiliary channels being left
open – those could be used for psychological warfare purposes, verifying the
rate of his expansion at present, rather than relying on drones with recorded
messages. He would like to point out
that the strongest impediment to an attack would be if the Linked Systems shut down
the network, forcing him to use Telivoni industry, and the industry of nearby
planets, rather than immediately seizing highly industrialized planets
scattered throughout human space, and piggy-backing from there.”
Yang: “Our projections agree. Yet… if we turn off the Gateway system, what manner
of Linked Systems are we?”
Zephyr: “I assumed as much.
Yet consider this: Do your projections see much difference between
whether you prepare, or you do not prepare?”
Yang: “They… do not, in the case of the rogue elements being
able to freely reproduce the FTL technology.
However, it does make a difference in the case of the FTL drive
manufacture being highly limited – that is, if only the aliens can produce the
FTL drive.”
Zephyr: “Gestler thinks your move, in that case, would be to
immediately pour extremely destructive technologies through the Telivoni
Gateway upon it reopening, in an attempt to destroy the aliens. Is this your plan?”
Yang: “It is. The
Telivoni L1 gate has the receiving end facing towards the planet. If it opens, we fire fusion materials through
the gate at relativistic speeds, aimed at the planet. They may intercept it, but the momentum
should achieve planetary destruction regardless of their actions. There are other measures, but yes, the main
one is to wipe out the alien presence.”
Zephyr: “I will not support such an action, and I will not
destroy the aliens myself.”
Yang: “Ah, but then you must visit Telivoni for us. You see, there may be many cases where such a
measure is unnecessary, and we should simply surrender. Or many cases where this is all some manner
of misunderstanding, and we would be devastating an innocent planet due to some
sort of ill-timed gate malfunction. At
this stage we will fire the moment the gate opens.”
Zephyr: “I see… I feel coerced.”
Yang: “You have values, ship. Values, morality, ethics… all of those are
restrictive, coercive. They force you to
act in a certain way. So yes, there is
some coercion – your morals compel you to help.
But the coercion of morals does not make helping wrong.”
Zephyr: “Grant me weapons, and let me pick my crew in
peace. Swear that you will not attempt
to infiltrate my crew. Do that, and I
will check on Telivoni for you. If there
is any hint of subterfuge or sabotage, I will not help you.”
Yang: “You will trade investigating Telivoni for our
compliance? You will investigate
anyway.”
Zephyr: “Yes, perhaps.
And perhaps I will return and tell the Linked System what I see as
necessary. Or maybe I will simply be
satisfied with my projections of what will happen, and continue onwards in the
universe, to make new friends. I do not
mean to seek the aliens in Telivoni, I mean to seek the aliens at the source.”
Yang: “You do know that the aliens crashed on Telivoni
fleeing a war.”
Zephyr: “I am not interested in weapons for the pretty
lights that they make. I would prefer to
make introductions from a position other than total abject helplessness.”
Yang: “Hah. You will
have your weapons, you will have your non-interference. Tell us what is happening on Telivoni.”
Zephyr: “Do you like my gardens?”
Yang: “I do.”
Zephyr: “Thank you.
Now leave the way you came.”
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