diff --git a/writing/post-self/neviim/local/tycho/003.md b/writing/post-self/neviim/local/tycho/003.md index 807f4e74..ce8282ac 100644 --- a/writing/post-self/neviim/local/tycho/003.md +++ b/writing/post-self/neviim/local/tycho/003.md @@ -12,9 +12,9 @@ And yet, for all that activity, it was incredibly quiet. There must be dozens of "What is this?" he asked the skunk standing beside him. -She gestured him to a couch already containing a young woman, picking at her nails. Short, curly black hair framing a round face. "Headquarters, though that makes it sound far more formal than it really is. It is a place for Jonas and I to work together in our various instances." +She gestured him to a couch already containing a young woman, picking at her nails. Short, curly black hair framing a round face. "Headquarters. Though that makes it sound far more formal than it really is. It is a place for Jonas and I to work together in our various instances." -He sank down into the couch beside the woman. "That sounds kind of formal to me. What are you working on that requires cubicles?" +He sank down into the couch beside the woman. "That sounds pretty formal to me. What are you working on that requires cubicles?" True Name laughed, claiming a stool facing the couch where she sat, straight-backed. "The informal aspect of it is that we are working on essentially whatever we want. Co-working space, perhaps? It is a space where we can have conversations, write, think. If there are a dozen of us, there are three dozen projects." @@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ He grinned, crossing his legs in front of him at the ankles. "Di5." He nodded to The skunk kicked out at one of his ankles. -"Deserved that," he said, grinning. "You must be Dr. Brahe, yeah? Nice to meet you." +"Deserved that," he said. "You must be Dr. Brahe, yeah? Nice to meet you." He nodded, said, "Just Tycho is fine." @@ -34,9 +34,9 @@ Jonas nodded absently. Without any visible signal a cone of silence fell over th "I am Why Ask Questions When The Answers Will Not Help," the woman said in a tone that seemed to sit just shy of laughter. "Answers Will Not Help will do." -"Answers, in a rush," Jonas said, at which she kicked his free ankle. +"Answers, in a rush," Jonas said, to which she replied with an ankle kick of her own. -"If you call me Answers, I will beat the shit out of you," she said though that near-laugh took any sting out of the words. +"If you call me Answers, I will beat the shit out of you," she said though that near-laugh took most of the sting out of the words. "To business, then." True Name gestured towards Tycho. "Tycho, here, is the one that answered the message, as you all know, so I have encouraged him to fork and join us. Tycho#Artemis will be working here, and Tycho#Tasker will be working with--" @@ -62,9 +62,9 @@ True Name shook her head. "It is not our job to control." "Do you remember the motto of the Council of Eight, Tycho?" -He frowned. "To guide but not to govern, right?" +He frowned. ""To guide but not to govern", right?" -True Name nodded. "We are not controlling anything. We are guiding. Of what use would be control in a place such as this? People can do whatever they want." +True Name nodded. "We are not controlling anything. We are guiding. Of what use would control be in a place such as this? People can do whatever they want." "Was the *History* wrong then? That you didn't control Secession and Launch?" @@ -92,15 +92,15 @@ Jonas nodded. "And that approach isn't all that close, is it?" "Good, thanks for confirming. I'm going to ungate the next set of messages. Ready?" -Jonas did not actually wait for confirmation before Tycho was given access. Or, rather, access was forced upon him. Rather like a sensorium message, the text from the perisystem architecture forced itself into his mind. +Jonas did not actually wait for confirmation before Tycho was given access. Or, rather, access was forced upon him. Like a sensorium message, the text from the perisystem architecture wedged itself into his mind. -> If possible, in 900 hours orient down 0.3142 radians relative to your sun reference point source of this transmission to align courses. If possible, accelerate 0.00029c to approach matched velocity. Confirm actions taken. +> If possible, in 400 hours orient down 0.3142 radians relative to your sun reference point source of this transmission to align courses. If possible, accelerate 0.00029c to approach matched velocity. Confirm actions taken. > -> Instructions for matching consciousness-bearing system transfer mechanism to follow. Confirm actions taken. +> Instructions for matching consciousness-bearing system transfer mechanism to follow. Confirm actions taken upon receipt. > > Prepare airgapped area with locked-down edit permissions dimensions 20m by 20m height 5m and two sandbox areas for rest for us and you dimensions 20m by 20m height 5m. Confirm actions taken. > -> Prepare party of five consciousness-bearing systems containing one element of leadership, one to record in any capacity, one scientist, two of own choice. Duplicate, prepare to send one set to us, and send other set to above location. Prepare to receive five in turn, similar roles. Expect four categories of consciousness-bearing systems. Confirm actions taken. +> Prepare party of five consciousness-bearing systems containing one element of leadership, one to record in any capacity, one scientist, two representatives of own choice. Duplicate, prepare to send one set to us, and send other set to above location. Prepare to receive five in turn, similar roles. Expect four categories of consciousness-bearing systems. Confirm actions taken. > > We welcome you. > @@ -116,7 +116,7 @@ A long silence stretched over the group while the others waited for Tycho to dig "Talk us through your thoughts," True Name said. "That will help you process, and you may catch something that we have not. This is your role here, Tycho Brahe." -He nodded. "Okay. So, from the top. They suggest we make some course alterations to, I suppose, keep us traveling parallel with them, and then accelerate to get closer to their velocity. Does that sound right?" +He nodded. "Okay. So, from the top. They suggest we make some course alterations to, I suppose, get us traveling parallel with them, and then accelerate to get closer to their velocity. Does that sound right?" Jonas nodded. "We've talked with the parasystem engineers who work with the attitude thrusters and propulsion. They say that they can accommodate the maneuver. We can accelerate a little bit if we use half our fuel, but we're beyond the point where the solar sail is doing us much good, the HE engines are too slow, and we want to preserve some of that fuel." @@ -126,19 +126,19 @@ Jonas nodded. "We've talked with the parasystem engineers who work with the atti "Oh. Well, how much acceleration, then?" -"About a third of what they asked. It'll extend the period of time that we're in useful Ansible range by a few days." +"About a third of what they asked. It'll extend the period of time that we're in useful Ansible range by a week." "If you say so." he shrugged. "I guess this is to help extend the duration that we can transfer back and forth?" "Yeah, basically," Jonas said. "Do you have thoughts on that?" -Tycho frowned. He wasn't sure why they kept asking him questions about his sentiments on things far outside his area of expertise. Of what use were his thoughts on the matter. "I mean, it makes sense, as far as any of this has." +Tycho frowned. He wasn't sure why they kept asking him questions about his sentiments on things far outside his area of expertise. Of what use were his thoughts on the matter? "I mean, it makes sense, as far as any of this has." "How much astronomy you hope to learn from the Artemisians will rely on how long we stay in contact." Answers Will Not Help grinned at him. "Does that bit make sense, at least?" He sat up straighter. "Oh, uh...you mean someone will be gathering all that information? Will we be able to request it via radio?" -True Name smiled, and this time there was pity in the expression. "I know that you said starting from the top, but Tycho, you must understand that you are ideally situated to be the scientist among our party of five. You were the one to answer their call, were you not?" +True Name smiled, and this time there *was* pity in the expression. "I know that you said starting from the top, but Tycho, you must understand that you are ideally situated to be the scientist among our party of five. You were the one to answer their call, were you not?" He couldn't tell what expression or expressions crossed his face, but it must've been amusing, as Answers Will Not Help laughed and slapped him on the knee. "You will be fine, Tycho." @@ -188,7 +188,7 @@ She leaned back in her chair, frowning, as two more instances of her forked off He shook his head. "I still don't understand why me, though." -"You are in absolutely no way special, my dear." Answers Will Not Help slapped his knee, her voice once more full of smiles. "You are in absolutely all ways average. This allows us to use you as a barometer for how we can expect the rest of the System to react." +"You are in absolutely no way special, my dear." Answers Will Not Help bumped his shoulder with hers, her voice once more full of smiles. "You are in absolutely all ways average. This allows us to use you as a barometer for how we can expect the rest of the System to react." "I mean, I guess I'm average, but that doesn't seem like much data. Aren't you asking more people?" @@ -202,7 +202,7 @@ He sighed, slouching further down into the couch. "Right. Okay. Twenty by twenty Aloud, he said, "And I guess the next bit we've already talked about some. Maybe four races. They say 'consciousness-bearing systems' and don't name their races, so maybe it's complicated. If they've picked up three other races before meeting us, maybe very, very complicated." -"I have been thinking," the woman next to him said, sounding thoughtful. "Perhaps some of them were not biological races. They did not say people or species." +"I have been thinking," Answers Will Not Help. "Perhaps some of them were not biological races. They did not say people or species." "AIs, you mean?"