update from sparkleup
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<p>The Artemisians had continued to fine-tune the new setup of the meeting space for the emissaries, so that the Odists beds were no longer in the same room as their half of the table. Now, there was a small, stone-paved unison room for their half of the table, at the back of which sat a low bench for sitting and talking, as well as a pitcher and glasses of water. To the side of that, a short hallway led to the two unison bedrooms.</p>
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<p>That True Name and Answers Will Not Help had requested separate bedrooms had felt notable to Codrin, though ey could not put eir finger on why. Perhaps one or both of them were having a hard enough time even while sleeping that it was keeping the other awake? Answers Will Not Help certainly looked as though she’d not slept since arriving.</p>
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<p>Both Odists had taken to spending any break longer than five minutes laying down, and ey’d taken it as eir task to ensure that they were up and moving a minute or so before the meeting resumed.</p>
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<p>One upside of this, however, was that it gave em as much latitude as ey wanted to talk with Tycho and Sarah without feeling like ey was leaving True Name and Answers Will Not Help behind. Or, ey realized, like ey needed to hide anything from them.</p>
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<p>One upside of this, however, was that it gave em as much latitude as ey wanted to talk with Tycho and Sarah without feeling like ey was leaving True Name and Answers Will Not Help behind.</p>
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<p>Or, ey realized, like ey needed to hide anything from them.</p>
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<p>“So. Day three.”</p>
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<p>Tycho groaned. “Yeah, though I feel like we’ve been here for at least a week by now.”</p>
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<p>“Might as well have been. The room is pinned at plus point two, so we’re already given far more time than we might have on an ordinary day.”</p>
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<p>Ey smiled, feeling the tiredness in eir cheeks. “You were a therapist, weren’t you? Maybe I should steal some of your time after this is all over.”</p>
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<p>“Gladly,” she said, nodding. “I’ve been thinking about restarting my practice, anyhow. It’s been too long of just lounging around on the System.”</p>
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<p>“Certainly got a pile of work for yourself now,” Tycho said. “What are your thoughts, while we’re on the subject?”</p>
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<p>“This is going to sound weird,” she said after a moment’s thought. “But it’s way more normal than I expected. It’s a strange situation, to be sure, but it’s still just a meeting between people who are trying to figure each other out. They’re alien, but not so far as to be completely unintelligible.”</p>
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<p>“This is going to sound weird,” she said after a moment’s thought. “But it’s way more normal than I expected. It’s a strange situation, to be sure, but it’s still just a meeting between people who are trying to figure each other out. They’re alien, but not so far as to be completely unintelligible. It’s almost prosaic.”</p>
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<p>“Think it’s going well?” Codrin asked.</p>
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<p>“As well as it can be, all things considered. We’ve not wound up in any thorny patches or anything.”</p>
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<p>Tycho nodded. “Agreed, though I have to admit that I’m getting kind of bored. Codrin told me I should steal some time with Stolon, and I’ve been doing that all I can, but the rest is just…boring. I want to be able to engage, but it’s just all over my head, and when I do start feeling like I’m getting a hold on it, Turun Ka or True Name will nudge us back ‘on topic’.”</p>
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<p>Tycho nodded. “Agreed, though I have to admit that I’m getting kind of bored. Codrin told me I should steal some time with Stolon, and I’ve been doing that whenever I can, but the rest is just…boring. I want to be able to engage, but it’s just all over my head, and when I do start feeling like I’m getting a hold on it, Turun Ka or True Name will nudge us back ‘on topic’.”</p>
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<p>“‘On topic’ meaning history and politics and the like?”</p>
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<p>He nodded. “I knew that going into this that #Castor would be having much more fun than I would.”</p>
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<p>“Well, lets see if we can find you something to focus on,” Sarah said.</p>
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<p>“It’s a very big ‘might’,” he said. “They could just have been using the stars for slingshots, after all.”</p>
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<p>“But it’s a possibility.”</p>
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<p>He nodded.</p>
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<p>Sarah shook her head. “To make sure I’m following, you think they may have spotted life elsewhere? Do you think the might have run across other possible societies and not had them join them as a race?”</p>
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<p>“Right. Could be they just hadn’t started uploading, of course.” He hesitated, then added, “Or that they had, but didn’t want to join or didn’t make the cut.”</p>
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<p>Sarah shook her head. “To make sure I’m following, you think they may have suspected there was life elsewhere? Do you think the might have run across other possible societies and not had them join them as a race?”</p>
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<p>“Right. Could be they just hadn’t started uploading.” He hesitated, then added, “Or that they had, but didn’t want to join or didn’t make the cut.”</p>
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<p>Codrin rubbed eir hands over eir face, willing away the tiredness that kept threatening to come back. Every time ey felt like ey was getting a hold on the situation ey was stuck in, some other bit of info would be brought to light and eir grasp would slip once more.</p>
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<p>Now here this was. Perhaps the Artemisians had run across more than just races two through four on their journey. Perhaps there had been failed convergences, not counted among the existing three and the fourth they were living through.</p>
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<p>Tycho’s comment about ‘not making the cut’ carried with it additional consequences, as well. It implied that there was a barrier to entry that one had to pass. This, in turn, implied that there were a set of requirements for getting to join as a race. Ones that had never been mentioned.</p>
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<p>“No,” ey said. “They wish us well.”</p>
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</article>
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<footer>
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<p>Page generated on 2022-03-05</p>
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<p>Page generated on 2022-03-16</p>
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</footer>
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</main>
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