update from sparkleup

writing/post-self/toledot/launch/sys/Ioan/010.md

@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ These knots were angry ones.
 
 Or, perhaps not angry. They were frustrating ones. They were knots that ey knew the technical reasons for existing, but was starting to nonetheless resent. They were knots that bound and limited the process with which ey learned, as frustrating as the recondite letters that Qoheleth had sent so often, so long ago. Little hints and clues and never exactly the complete answer all at once. Never an explanation that allowed for further questions. Always too little, as though ey (and, at the time, Dear) was being strung along, lured into some unknown trap.
 
-The same thing was happening now. Ey understood the technical reasons for no one, single Odist answering all of the questions ey had, ey and eir clade. There were too many emotions, too much secrecy, or too much shame bound up in the answers for them to sit down and tell a story from start to finish. None of them would admit to any more than one single thing throughout each interview, instead relying on the agreed upon admonition to stop when requested or warning that, after a certain point, the Odist would lie or resent the Bălan.
+The same thing was happening now. Ey understood the technical reasons for no one, single Odist answering all of the questions ey had, ey and eir clade. There were too many emotions, too much secrecy, or too much shame bound up in the answers for them to sit down and tell a story from start to finish. None of them would admit to any more than one single thing throughout each interview, instead relying on the agreed upon admonition to stop when requested or warning that, after a certain point, the Odist would lie to or resent the Bălan.
 
 Ey was half tempted to push one of them past that point, but then, ey wouldn't know what bit was true or not.
 
@@ -16,13 +16,13 @@ And these Jonases! Ey was going to see one today, after eir walk. They seemed so
 
 Ey was not looking forward to eir interview with Jonas Prime today.
 
-So, instead, ey stomped and thought and talked to emself, walking all the way to the rock halfway around the lake from the default entry point to the sim, throwing a few handfuls of stones in to the placid water one by one, and then stomping all the way back to that same point.
+So, instead, ey stomped along the path and thought and talked to emself, walking all the way to the rock halfway around the lake from the default entry point to the sim, throwing a few handfuls of stones in to the placid water one by one, and then stomping all the way back to that same point.
 
 Once ey'd had eir sulk, ey headed to the meeting with Jonas.
 
 Unexpectedly, this was at the same library at which ey had interviewed Sadiah. Not only that, but Jonas Prime was standing in exactly the same spot that she had been standing in, greeted em with much the same bow that the other historian had, and led em to the exact same booth in the cafe-*cum*-bar beneath the stacks. It was uncanny to such a degree as to immediately put em on the defensive, guarding against some threat, real or imagined.
 
-Once again, though, the drinks were ordered --- cocktails, this time --- and the cone of silence fell. Jonas rested his elbows on the table and rested his chin on his folded hands. It was an incredibly charming look. "Mx Bălan, so nice to meet you at last."
+Once again, though, the drinks were ordered --- cocktails, this time --- and the cone of silence fell. Jonas rested his elbows on the table and rested his chin on his folded hands. It was an incredibly charming look. "Mx. Bălan, so nice to meet you at last."
 
 "Have you heard that much about me, then?" Ey did eir best to keep eir smile as earnest as possible.
 
@@ -84,7 +84,7 @@ Ey frowned as ey noted that on eir rapidly filling page. "Is there no way for an
 
 "So, instead you decided to ensure that phys-side and the System continued their symbiotic relationship?"
 
-"The part of me which as moved beyond pessimism and into disillusionment wants to sigh and say, "symbiotic is too kind a way to put it," but even I don't think that's true. We need them in order to continue growing, and they need us as something to dream about."
+"The part of me which has moved beyond pessimism and into disillusionment wants to sigh and say, "symbiotic is too kind a way to put it," but even I don't think that's true. We need them in order to continue growing, and they need us as something to dream about."
 
 "Alright," Ioan said, dropping the line of questioning before it got too far from the few others ey still wanted to ask. "So it was decided that the launch was a good way to ensure that the System divested because it moved beyond what it was."
 
@@ -96,11 +96,11 @@ Ey frowned as ey noted that on eir rapidly filling page. "Is there no way for an
 
 "Speaking of, one your clade told one of mine that there are complex thoughts on stability and stasis. I just want to confirm that I'm understanding correctly. Launch fits into your concept of stasis by ensuring continuity."
 
-"Basically, yeah. A little bit of excitement is required to ensure that our lives stay boring. Even if our lives become interesting, or Castor's lives become interesting, or Pollux's, then there is a better than good chance that at least one of the others' will remain boring, just how we want it. No Jonas, was it? He probably called it 'gardening', which I like. We're tending topiary, here, and there are many of us over on each of the launches, doing the same."
+"Basically. A little bit of excitement is required to ensure that our lives stay boring. Even if our lives become interesting, or Castor's lives become interesting, or Pollux's, then there is a better than good chance that at least one of the others' will remain boring, just how we want it. No Jonas, was it? He probably called it 'gardening', which I like. We're tending topiary, here, and there are many of us over on each of the launches, doing the same."
 
-Ioan nodded and paused to drink down a third of eir cocktail. Ey was thirsty, of course, but some part of em seemed to be craving the numbing aspects of alcohol. Ey continued, "Alright, I think I have two more questions. The first is that End Waking said that there were goals to influence the economies phys-side and explained that there were short term, medium term, and long term goals. He was kind enough to fill me in on the first two, but not the third. Can you tell me what the long term goals of meddling with the economy phys-side were?"
+Ioan nodded and paused to drink down a third of eir cocktail. Ey was thirsty, of course, but some part of em seemed to be craving the numbing aspects of alcohol. Ey continued, "Alright, I think I have two more questions. The first is that End Waking said that there were goals to influence the economies phys-side and explained that there were short term, medium term, and long term goals. He was kind enough to fill me in on the first two, but not the third. Can you tell me what the long term goals of meddling with the economy phys-side were? He said something about critical mass."
 
-"Oh, that's an easy one," Jonas said. "It's basically the same as what I said about life. If life is to have the right level of constraining pressures on it, one of the easiest ways to do so is through the economy. The long-term goal of 'meddling', as you put it, was to ensure the continuity of capitalism. It gives something for people to dream about, which are alternatives. It gives something for people to work against. It gives them reason to keep on dreaming, and since they know that we rely on reputation up here, they have plenty dream about."
+"Oh, that's an easy one," Jonas said. "It's basically the same as what I said about life. If life is to have the right level of constraining pressures on it, one of the easiest ways to do so is through the economy. The long-term goal of 'meddling', as you put it, was to ensure the continuity of capitalism. It gives something for people to dream about, which are alternatives. It gives something for people to work against. It gives them reason to keep on dreaming, and since they know that we rely on reputation up here, they have plenty dream about. The cirtical mass is the amount of money and participants required to turn this into a self-sustaining system."
 
 "Simple enough, I guess, even if a little frightening in its implications."
 
@@ -132,7 +132,7 @@ Jonas's grin turned icy. "No, not Earth, Ioan. The System."
 
 "The L<sub>5</sub> System? Or those on the LVs?"
 
-"Space is unfathomably big, Mx Bălan. Stupendously big. There is absolutely no way that aliens, as you put it, would care about Earth or the solar system. There's no reason to come here. There's no reason for them to even bother with something so pitiful as us." The grin was edging into a smirk, now, and Ioan couldn't tell quite what it meant. Jonas continued, "No, the LV Systems. There is the broadcast to get extraterrestrial intelligences in the LVs, yes, but that's not all. There's a very precise set of instructions for how the System works, how the Ansible works, and an Ansible receiver. The same one used for uploading to the LVs."
+"Space is unfathomably big, Mx Bălan. Stupendously big. There is absolutely no way that aliens, as you put it, would care about Earth or the solar system. There's no reason to come here. There's no reason for them to even bother with something so pitiful as us." The grin was edging into a smirk, now, and Ioan couldn't tell quite what it meant. Jonas continued, "No, the LV Systems. There is the broadcast to get extraterrestrial intelligences interested in the LVs, yes, but that's not all. There's a very precise set of instructions for how the System works, how the Ansible works, and an Ansible receiver. The same one used for uploading to the LVs."
 
 Ioan blinked and sat up straighter. "I don't remember hearing anything about that.'
 
@@ -164,6 +164,6 @@ He returned the handshake and shrugged. "Nope, you're good to go with all of it.
 
 They both stood and walked toward the exit.
 
-"Mx Bălan, it's been an absolute pleasure."
+"Mx. Bălan, it's been an absolute pleasure."
 
 Ioan smiled and very carefully did not say, *For you, perhaps. For me, it has been absolutely terrifying.*