update from sparkleup
This commit is contained in:
Madison Scott-Clary
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</li>
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<li class="done2"> Part I - Departure<ul>
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<li class="done2"> <a href="launch/sys/Ioan/001.html">Launch: sys-side: Ioan</a> - A death-day celebration - 2141 - TODO merge with below</li>
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<li class="done2"> <a href="launch/sys/Ioan/002.html">Launch: sys-side: Ioan</a> - Expanding scope - 1351</li>
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<li class="rejected"> MERGED ABOVE <!--<a href="launch/sys/Ioan/002.html">Launch: sys-side: Ioan</a> - Expanding scope - 1351 --></li>
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<li class="done2"> <a href="launch/phys/Douglas/001.html">Launch: phys-side: Douglas</a> - Douglas feels a feel while working on the launch - 1021 - TODO merge with below</li>
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<li class="done2"> <a href="launch/phys/Douglas/002.html">Launch: phys-side: Douglas</a> - Douglas and May write to each other about the launch - 2722</li>
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<li class="rejected"> MERGED ABOVE <!-- <a href="launch/phys/Douglas/002.html">Launch: phys-side: Douglas</a> - Douglas and May write to each other about the launch - 2722 --></li>
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<li class="done2"> <a href="secession/sys/Michelle/001.html">Secession: sys-side: Michelle</a> - Michelle dies among her clade, passing on tasks to first lines (True Name gets launch) - 1131</li>
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<li class="rejected"> <!--<a href="launch/phys/de/001.html">Launch: phys-side: de</a> - -->REJECTED: de no longer a POV character<!-- - Disappointed that launch went through regardless, walks the station in a daze, thinking backwards from current thought - 887~~~--></li>
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<li class="done2"> <a href="secession/phys/Yared/001.html">Secession: phys-side: Yared</a> - Yared uploads, the final before secession - 3080</li>
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</ul>
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</article>
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<footer>
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<p>Page generated on 2021-09-22</p>
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<p>Page generated on 2021-09-23</p>
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</footer>
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</main>
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<script type="text/javascript">
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@ -32,9 +32,258 @@
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<p>Who this coordinator was, this confusingly-named May Then My Name Die With Me, he had no idea.</p>
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<p>He needn’t even message Michelle directly. He had MTMNDWM, perhaps she would know. He could ask her. She could mediate.</p>
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<p>And still, he never did.</p>
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<hr />
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<blockquote>
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<p>Director Hadje,</p>
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<p>The launch is tomorrow and communications are looking good. A status report will follow, but before I get to that, I would like to open a dialog with you surrounding topics beyond the launch itself. Please ensure that this is both acceptable by the hierarchy of superiors that doubtless read our communications and yourself, as they are of a somewhat more personal nature. As my role of launch coordinator slowly dwindles, I have been asked by both my clade and a historian sys-side to collect information through extant lines of communication, a sort of oral history of the events leading up to, surrounding, and immediately after the launch.</p>
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<p>Thank you,</p>
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<p>May Then My Name Die With Me of the Ode Clade</p>
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<p>2325-01-20 — systime 200+364 1303</p>
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</blockquote>
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<h2 id="status-report">Status Report</h2>
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<ul>
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<li><strong>Micro-Ansible transmission:</strong><ul>
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<li><em>Outbound functionality:</em> five-by-five (go)</li>
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<li><em>Inbound functionality:</em> five-by-five (go)</li>
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</ul>
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</li>
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<li><strong>Transmission status:</strong><ul>
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<li><em>Personalities transferred:</em> 2,593,190,433 / 100% (go)</li>
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<li><em>Individuals by clade transferred:</em> 1,123,384,222 / 100% (go)</li>
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<li><em>Personalities remaining to be transferred:</em> 0 / 0% (go)</li>
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<li><em>Individuals by clade remaining to be transferred:</em> 0 / 0% (go)</li>
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<li><em>Personalities transferred leaving no immediate forks (pct):</em> 3.8%</li>
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<li><em>Individuals by clade transferred leaving no immediate forks (pct):</em> 0.00000018%</li>
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<li><em>Social makeup of transfers:</em> 84% dispersionista / 10% tracker / 6% tasker</li>
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<li><em>Social makeup of L<sub5</subSystem:</em> 23% dispersionista / 38% tracker / 39% tasker</li>
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<li><em>Transfers irrevocably lost:</em> 8 (go)</li>
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</ul>
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</li>
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<li><strong>System status:</strong><ul>
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<li>Castor:<ul>
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<li><em>Stability:</em> 100% (go)</li>
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<li><em>Clock offset:</em> 0ns (go)</li>
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<li><em>Clock skew:</em> 0ns/ns (go)</li>
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<li><em>Clock jitter:</em> 0ns/ns/ns (go)</li>
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<li><em>Entanglement:</em> 100% (go)</li>
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<li><em>Fork reliability:</em> 17 nines (go)</li>
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<li><em>Merge reliability:</em> 23 nines (go)</li>
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</ul>
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</li>
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<li>Pollux:<ul>
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<li><em>Stability:</em> 100% (go)</li>
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<li><em>Clock offset:</em> 0ns (go)</li>
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<li><em>Clock skew:</em> 0ns/ns (go)</li>
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<li><em>Clock jitter:</em> 0ns/ns/ns (go)</li>
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<li><em>Entanglement:</em> 100% (go)</li>
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<li><em>Fork reliability:</em> 18 nines (go)</li>
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<li><em>Merge reliability:</em> 21 nines (go)</li>
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</ul>
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</li>
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</ul>
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</li>
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<li><strong>Disposition:</strong> go for launch</li>
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</ul>
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<p><em>Notes:</em> the level of transfers irrevocably lost is disappointing but cannot be helped. Still, it is far below the loss from the Earth-L<sub5</sub> Ansible, which, as a matter of course, implies the loss of a clade rather than a personality. One clade was lost irrevocably, but, at the risk of sounding crass, they knew they were signing up for this, and it is always a risk for taskers. That one loss represents 0.005% of the total transfer loss, and is vanishingly small in the grand scheme of things. Congratulations, as always, for another step closer to launch.</p>
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<h2 id="attachment-history-questionnaire-1">Attachment: history questionnaire #1</h2>
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<p>As mentioned, I am working with a historian — or rather, three forks of the same historian — to compile a history of the launch. Due to a certain incorrigible tricksiness, this will take the form of a mythology; something romantic to be passed down through the years. To this end, data collection is ramping up in the form of countless interviews. I have, of course, all the status reports a girl could ever want for the basic facts, all of the trials and tribulations over the last two decades, but that is only a small portion of a mythology. Should you and your superiors agree, I would like to begin the process of collecting testimonies from those phys-side.</p>
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<h3 id="concrete-questions">Concrete questions</h3>
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<ul>
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<li>How long have you been working as phys-side launch director?</li>
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<li>What is involved with your role as phys-side launch director?</li>
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<li>How long have you been working with the System phys-side?</li>
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<li>What led you to pursue a career working with the System?</li>
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<li>What led you to remain phys-side rather than uploading, yourself? Will you upload in the future? Why or why not?</li>
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<li>What led you to pursue your position as launch director rather than remaining in your previous position?</li>
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<li>Please provide a biography of yourself to whatever level of detail you feel comfortable.</li>
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<li>Please provide a physical description of yourself to whatever level of detail you feel comfortable.</li>
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<li>Do you have any hobbies?</li>
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</ul>
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<h3 id="on-the-system">On the System</h3>
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<ul>
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<li>How do you feel about what you know of the founding of the System?</li>
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<li>If you were suddenly removed from your position as director, what would you choose to do as a career in its stead?</li>
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<li>If you were suddenly removed from your location in the extrasystem station and returned to Earth, how would you feel and what would you expect?</li>
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<li>If the System shut down and all personalities irrevocably lost, how would you feel?</li>
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</ul>
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<h3 id="gestalt">Gestalt</h3>
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<ul>
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<li>If you were told that, one year from now, you would die painlessly, what would you do? Would this change if you knew that your death would be painful? Would this change, in either case, if your death was seven days from now?</li>
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<li>If everyone but you disappeared, what would you do?</li>
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<li>How do you feel about being alone for extended periods of time?</li>
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<li>Do you remember your dreams?</li>
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</ul>
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<h3 id="on-history">On history</h3>
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<ul>
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<li>How long wilt Thou forget me, O Lord? Forever? How long wilt Thou hide Thy face from me?</li>
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<li>When you become intoxicated — whether via substance use or some natural process, such as sleep deprivation — which of the following applies to you?<ol>
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<li>Ape drunk: he leaps and sings and hollers and danceth for the heavens.</li>
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<li>Lion drunk: he flings the pots about the house, calls his hostess whore, breaks the glass windows with his dagger, and is apt to quarrel with any man that speaks to him.</li>
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<li>Swine drunk: heavy, lumpish, and sleepy, and cries for a little more drink and a few more clothes.</li>
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<li>Sheep drunk: wise in his own conceit when he cannot bring forth a right word.</li>
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<li>Maudlin drunk: when a fellow will weep for kindness in the midst of his ale and kiss you, saying, “By God, Captain, I love thee; go thy ways, thou dost not think so often of me as I do of thee. If I would, if it pleased God, I could not love thee so well as I do.” — and then puts his finger in his eye and cries.</li>
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<li>Martin drunk: when a man is drunk and drinks himself sober ere he stir.</li>
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<li>Goat drunk: when in his drunkenness, he hath no mind but on lechery.</li>
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<li>Fox drunk: when he is crafty drunk as many of the Dutchmen be.</li>
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</ol>
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</li>
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<li>While walking along in desert sand, you suddenly look down and see a tortoise crawling toward you. You reach down and flip it over onto its back. The tortoise lies there, its belly baking in the hot sun, beating its legs, trying to turn itself over, but it cannot do so without your help. You are not helping. Why?</li>
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<li>Two by two, two by two, and twice more. We always think in binaries, in black and white. We remember history two by two. We consider the present two by two. We think of the future twice over, and twice again. I have looked back on history and seen ceaseless progress or steps backward. I look back a hundred years and see illness and failure, and I look at today and see _____?</li>
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<li>Oh, but to whom do I speak these words?<br />
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To whom do I plead my case?<br />
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From whence do I call out?<br />
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What right have I?<br />
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No ranks of angels will answer to dreamers,<br />
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No unknowable spaces echo my words.<br />
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Before whom do I kneel, contrite?<br />
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Behind whom do I await my judgment?<br />
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Beside whom do I face death?<br />
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And why wait I for an answer?</li>
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</ul>
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<p>Please take your time, and remember that the launch takes precedence over your answers.</p>
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<p>In friendship,</p>
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<p>May Then My Name Die With Me of the Ode Clade</p>
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<hr />
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<blockquote>
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<p>May Then My Name Die With Me,</p>
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<p>Thank you for the updated status report. I am looking forward to the launch, and will provide you the best textual description that I am able as it happens from phys-side. I will attempt to provide real-time updates, though the exigencies of the situation will take precedence. Congratulations on making it this far, and thank you for all of your help. Status report follows.</p>
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<p>While we were largely baffled by the nature of your question, the launch commission and myself have accepted the task of aiding you and your companion in your history/mythology project. Answers(?) will follow in a separate message.</p>
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<p>Thank you,</p>
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<p>Douglas Hadje, MSf, PhD<br />
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Launch director</p>
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<p>2325-01-20 — systime 200+364 1515</p>
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<p>Digital signatures:</p>
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<ul>
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<li>Douglas Hadje</li>
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<li>Launch commission:<ul>
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<li>de</li>
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<li>Jonathan Finnes</li>
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<li>Thomas Nash</li>
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<li>Woo Hye-won</li>
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<li>Hasnaa</li>
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</ul>
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</li>
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</ul>
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</blockquote>
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<h2 id="status-report_1">Status Report</h2>
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<ul>
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<li><strong>Station-side status:</strong><ul>
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<li><em>Systems check:</em> Complete (go)</li>
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<li><em>Staff:</em> 100% (go)</li>
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<li><em>Gravity compensation:</em> 100% (go)</li>
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<li><em>Tiedowns:</em> 100% (go)</li>
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<li><em>Expected rotational impact:</em> Nominal (go)</li>
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<li><em>Rotational compensation engines:</em> Nominal (go)</li>
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<li><em>Power storage:</em> 98% (go)</li>
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<li><em>Power consumption:</em> 86% (go)</li>
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<li><em>Panel efficiency:</em> 5 nines (go)</li>
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</ul>
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</li>
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<li><strong>Launch arm status:</strong><ul>
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<li>Castor:<ul>
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<li><em>Launch arm integrity:</em> 100% (go)</li>
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<li><em>Launch arm path:</em> Clear (go)</li>
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<li><em>Launch arm cameras:</em> 100% (go)</li>
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<li><em>Launch vehicle path:</em> Clear to transsolar 1.8AU, 5 nines confidence (go)</li>
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<li><em>Capacitor charge:</em> 6 nines, on track to 100% (go)</li>
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<li><em>Speed:</em> 100% (go)</li>
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<li><em>Expected acceleration:</em> Nominal (go)</li>
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<li><em>Expected expected jerk:</em> Nominal (go)</li>
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</ul>
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</li>
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<li>Pollux:<ul>
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<li><em>Launch arm integrity:</em> 100% (go)</li>
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<li><em>Launch arm path:</em> Clear (go)</li>
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<li><em>Launch arm cameras:</em> 100% (go)</li>
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<li><em>Launch vehicle path:</em> Clear to cissolar 1.2AU, 5 nines confidence (go)</li>
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<li><em>Capacitor charge:</em> 6 nines, on track to 100% (go)</li>
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<li><em>Speed:</em> 100% (go)</li>
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<li><em>Expected acceleration:</em> Nominal (go)</li>
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<li><em>Expected expected jerk:</em> Nominal (go)</li>
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</ul>
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</li>
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</ul>
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</li>
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<li><strong>Launch vehicle status:</strong><ul>
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<li>Castor:<ul>
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<li><em>System surface integrity:</em> 100% (go)</li>
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<li><em>System interior integrity:</em> 100% (go)</li>
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<li><em>Sabot integrity:</em> 100% (go)</li>
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<li><em>Sabot ejection system:</em> Tests pass (go)</li>
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<li><em>RTG power rate:</em> Steady (go)</li>
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<li><em>RTG temperature:</em> Nominal (go)</li>
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<li><em>RTG pre-launch heat sink:</em> Nominal (go)</li>
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<li><em>RTG post-launch heat-sink:</em> Tests pass (go)</li>
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<li><em>RTG post-launch heat-sink deployment mechanism:</em> Tests pass (go)</li>
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<li><em>Solar sail integrity:</em> 100% (go)</li>
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<li><em>Solar sail deployment mechanism:</em> Tests pass (go)</li>
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<li><em>Solar panel integrity:</em> 100% (go)</li>
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<li><em>Solar panel deployment/retraction mechanism:</em> Tests pass (go)</li>
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<li><em>Attitude jet functionality:</em> 100% (go)</li>
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<li><em>Raw material capacity:</em> 100% (go)</li>
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<li><em>Raw material manipulator functionality:</em> 100% (go)</li>
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<li><em>Raw material manufactory functionality:</em> 100% (go)</li>
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<li><em>Dreamer Module functionality:</em> 100% (go)</li>
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</ul>
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</li>
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<li>Pollux:<ul>
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<li><em>System surface integrity:</em> 100% (go)</li>
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<li><em>System interior integrity:</em> 100% (go)</li>
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<li><em>Sabot integrity:</em> 100% (go)</li>
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<li><em>Sabot ejection system:</em> Tests pass (go)</li>
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<li><em>RTG power rate:</em> Steady (go)</li>
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<li><em>RTG temperature:</em> Nominal (go)</li>
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<li><em>RTG pre-launch heat sink:</em> Nominal (go)</li>
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<li><em>RTG post-launch heat-sink:</em> Tests pass (go)</li>
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<li><em>RTG post-launch heat-sink deployment mechanism:</em> Tests pass (go)</li>
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<li><em>Solar sail integrity:</em> 100% (go)</li>
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<li><em>Solar sail deployment mechanism:</em> Tests pass (go)</li>
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<li><em>Solar panel integrity:</em> 100% (go)</li>
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<li><em>Solar panel deployment/retraction mechanism:</em> Tests pass (go)</li>
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<li><em>Attitude jet functionality:</em> 100% (go)</li>
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<li><em>Raw material capacity:</em> 100% (go)</li>
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<li><em>Raw material manipulator functionality:</em> 100% (go)</li>
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<li><em>Raw material manufactory functionality:</em> 100% (go)</li>
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<li><em>Dreamer Module functionality:</em> 100% (go)</li>
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</ul>
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</li>
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</ul>
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</li>
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<li><strong>Disposition:</strong> go for launch</li>
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</ul>
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<p><em>Notes:</em> We are 1% away from desired power consumption reduction on the station. While this is within tolerances, we are expecting that, with the shutdown of the glass furnace at 2330, we will hit our mark of 15% station-wide power reduction. Congratulations!</p>
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<hr />
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<h2 id="message-stream">Message stream</h2>
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<p><strong>Phys-side:</strong> The launch vehicles in their sabots are settled into their creches and the doors are shut. Everyone’s excited, but I’m pleased at the calm efficiency of the control tower I’m in (Pollux). We are 1deg offset spinward from the launch arm, so we should be able to see the launch well enough, but the arm appears to disappear into nothingness after about 100m, so the show won’t be great past then. We’ll all be watching the cameras. Even those won’t be very exciting, given the speed the LVs will be going. Models suggest that we might feel a jerk and fluctuation in gravity, that will be quickly compensated by the engines.</p>
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<p><strong>Phys-side:</strong> Given your apparent interest in the subjective aspects of the launch, I have to say that I wish there was a big red button I could hit to trigger the launch. Wouldn’t that be satisfying? I picture it like one of the keyboards, where there’s some sort of spring in there, and a satisfying click as the button snaps down that last bit and makes some physical electric contact Everything’s done on a timer, however, and the chances of any manual intervention being required are essentially zero. Everyone in the tower here is essentially in place to take in data and give reports. I didn’t receive permission to pass those on directly, however, so you’re left with them being filtered through yours truly.</p>
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<p><strong>Phys-side:</strong> One minute.</p>
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<p><strong>Phys-side:</strong> Thirty seconds.</p>
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<p><strong>Phys-side:</strong> Ten seconds. Godspeed.</p>
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<p><strong>Sys-side:</strong> Godspeed, you poor fucks.</p>
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<p><strong>Phys-side:</strong> 3</p>
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<p><strong>Phys-side:</strong> 1</p>
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<p><strong>Phys-side:</strong> Launch looks good.</p>
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<p><strong>Phys-side:</strong> Watching the struts flex and jolt with the release of mass is quite beautiful.</p>
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<!-- REWRITE per convo with Kaani -->
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<p><strong>Phys-side:</strong> They weren’t kidding about the jerk. Two of them, actually, as the engines fired a half second after the jerk reached the torus. We’ve got two injuries down here - bumps and bruises. Reports from the torus indicate that damage was minimal. Some sloshing from the hydroponics, but that’s easy to clean up. One of the furnaces will need some care. Worst bit of damage, however, is that the solar array suffered a cascading failure: one panel broke loose and tumbled end-over-end across a few hundred others. Power’s still nominal, though. We’ll get it fixed.</p>
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<p><strong>Phys-side:</strong> Did you feel anything up there?</p>
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<p><strong>Sys-side:</strong> Har har. No, nothing up here. I, like you, wish that we had, though. If there had been some sudden jolt or a flicker of the lights, I think that perhaps this launch would have felt more real. I suspect that my cocladist, Dear, Also, The Tree That Was Felled, would have simulated an earthquake at the exact moment of launch, destroying its home in the process, but alas, it was one of those hopeless romantics who transferred entirely to the LVs without leaving a fork. I will have Ioan (my pet historian) ask if it did so from the LVs. I would not be surprised.</p>
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<p><strong>Phys-side:</strong> Your clade sounds fascinating. I don’t understand a single bit of it.</p>
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<p><strong>Sys-side:</strong> I will tell you a story one day.</p>
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<p><strong>Sys-side:</strong> How do you feel with 20 years of work gone in an instant?</p>
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<p><strong>Phys-side:</strong> I’m still processing that. Numb? Giddy? Can I be both at the same time?</p>
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<p><strong>Sys-side:</strong> I see no reason why not. Why numb? Why giddy?</p>
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<p><strong>Phys-side:</strong> Numb because there was nothing to see. Not even a flash. The LVs were here, and then they were gone, and I’ll never see them again. Giddy because it worked. Telemetry is good, speed is nominal, entanglement is nominal, radio communication is nominal, though the rate at which message times are increasing is surprising, though I knew that this would happy. How neat is that?</p>
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<p><strong>Sys-side:</strong> Very neat. I feel much the same. I feel numb for the reason I mentioned above. They were here, and then they were gone, and there was no feedback from the action. As planned, we are hogging all of the entanglement bandwidth with communication, some of which you will be receiving on other streams. This is where the numb and the giddy cross, as in some ways, it feels as though they never left (modulo the fact that Dear would almost certainly rather talk via sensorium messages rather than text, but Codrin (Dear’s pet historian) is much suited to words. Giddy, though, because this remains exciting for all of us, both here and on the LVs, and already they diverge, already they are no longer the ones who left here, already they are no longer us.</p>
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<p><strong>Phys-side:</strong> That’s not something I can picture, but I’ll trust you on that.</p>
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<p><strong>Sys-side:</strong> Different worlds, different problems. I must see to writing, Douglas, congratulations once more, and I will stay in contact regarding the LVs and my research.</p>
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<p><strong>Phys-side:</strong> Thank you for all your hard work, May Then My Name Die With Me.</p>
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<p><strong>Sys-side:</strong> You may call me May Then My Name, now that the hard work is over.</p>
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<p><strong>Phys-side:</strong> Thanks! Be well.</p>
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<p><strong>Sys-side:</strong> You too.</p>
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@ -93,9 +93,56 @@ For auld lang–</p>
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<p>Before the final note of the song could be sung, Dear gave a jaunty salute, bowed with a flourish, and quit along with its partner and Codrin Bălan. The landscape around them crumbled into voxels, and those voxels joined together by powers of two, and with a soft chime, all the members of the party were shunted off to wherever they called home.</p>
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<p>Ioan stumbled and fell to eir knees on the parquet of eir entryway, May Then My Name standing, defiant against the change in scenery, in air and light and gravity, beside em.</p>
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<p>“What an asshole,” she laughed.</p>
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<p>Ioan and May Then My Name let the intoxication of the night cling to them a while longer while they sat on the balcony of Ioan’s house, overlooking that perpetually lilac-scented yard, and talked. They talked of the party, of the modern house on the prairie, of Dear and the contradiction of formal intensity and playfulness that it seemed to embody. The conversation wound down, and then the two sat in silence. It did not seem time yet to snap sobriety into being.</p>
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<p>It had taken Ioan a few days to get used to the skunk’s affectionate nature. When she first moved in as the intensity of the project began to ramp up, it had taken em by surprised, and ey had needed to have a series of awkward conversations discussing boundaries and intentions.</p>
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<p>Now, as she slouched against eir side on that bench swing and ey settled eir arm around her, he asked, “What is the story behind your fork? Or your stanza?”</p>
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<p>“Mm?”</p>
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<p>“Well, Dear said that it and Serene were forked when Praiseworthy wanted to explore an interest in instances and sims. Is there something like that which led to…to whatever your down-tree instance is forking?” Ey supposed that, were ey sober, ey might have better luck dredging up the lines from the stanza. Something about true names and god.</p>
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<p>May Then My Name shrugged, shoulder shifting against Ioan’s side. “In the early days, I — Michelle, that is — did not have much direction to her forking. Forks were created at need essentially to handle the increased workload.”</p>
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<p>“Were the early days busy?”</p>
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<p>“Very busy. We were one of the first, you know, and there were a lot of details that needed to be seen to before this place became what it is today.”</p>
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<p>Ioan nodded. “Dear said that Michelle had campaigned to include sensoria in the system.”</p>
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<p>“Yes, though that word is something of an elision that has become shorthand for experiences rather than thoughts.” Her voice was soft, though it still held the careful articulation of one who has realized that they are not sober. “We were not beings of pure thought, there were still experiences, but there was no guarantee that they would be shared. It was chaotic, as you might imagine from a set of unique individuals trying to dream the same dream.</p>
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<p>“This was back in the early days, you understand, before the System had become a dumping ground for the world’s excess population. We were all starry-eyed dreamers, and so were the engineers phys-side. Hard problems remain hard, however, and it kept getting deprioritized. Michelle and the rest of the Council of Eight provided arguments for the means by which we have consensual sensoria, as well as additional sensorium tools such as the messages.”</p>
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<p>Ioan restrained the impulse to bristle at this. The Ode clade was notorious for their fondness for sensorium messages, those sensations and images that barged in on one’s senses. Ey found them unnerving. Instead, ey said, “Just how much of the early System did your clade influence.”</p>
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<p>May Then My Name’s laugh was musical. “I am sure we have lost count. The first lines of each stanza quickly picked up interests of their own — they were in much better communication back then — and each picked up a project of their own, and whenever a new project would come along, they would petition the rest of the clade for the use of a line for a long-running fork. Everything was much more expensive back then, and we would sometimes have to pool our reputation.”</p>
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<p>“What was your stanza’s project?”</p>
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<p>“We lost the idea that the whole stanza would be working on similar projects after a while, so they are not as tightly connected any more. The first line of mine, though, The Only Time I Know My True Name Is When I Dream — True Name — was instrumental in the secession of the System.”</p>
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<p>Ioan blinked, startled. “I had no idea. That early?”</p>
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<p>“That was before we started using systime, yes.”</p>
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<p><del class="deletion">“Two centuries ago? I thought Dear said Michelle uploaded after Secession.”<q class="comment">This whole bit is a continuity error</q></del></p>
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<p>She shrugged noncommittally, then rested her head back on Ioan’s shoulder. The alcohol of the night still dogged em, but </p>
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<p>“And the reason for your fork?”</p>
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<p>“To feel.”</p>
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<p>“To feel?”</p>
|
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<p>“To feel. True Name kept spinning off instances to work on such concrete things, I think she forgot how to feel. Emotions became distant out of habit. Touch became a distraction. I was to become her anchor. We would merge every few months after that, though we have settled on once a decade, of late. We will merge once this project is finished.”</p>
|
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<p>“You haven’t diverged too far?” Ioan asked.</p>
|
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<p>“We try not to,” the skunk murmured. “That is why I am acting as coordinator. It is a familiar role.”</p>
|
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<p>Ioan nodded. “Close enough to Secession, I suppose.”</p>
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<p>Another moment of silence. The academic permitted some of the drunkenness from the evening to drift away, allowing him to think more clearly. May Then My Name relaxed further against eir side, and ey suspected she was not far away from sleep. Tomorrow, the work would begin in earnest, so ey was tempted to let her sleep, but a question nagged at him.</p>
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<p>“May?”</p>
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<p>“I like it when you call me that.”</p>
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<p>“It’s a good name.” Ioan grinned. “I had a question, though. How much do you remember from back then?”</p>
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<p>She sat bolt upright, wrenching at eir shoulder. “What did you say? Sorry.”</p>
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<p>Ey reclaimed eir arm, rubbing at the shoulder. “It’s okay. How much do you remember from the start of the System?”</p>
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<p>“You, my dear, are a fucking genius.” She was on her feet now, pacing back and forth in front of the bench swing. She paused mid-pace to lean down and bump her nose against Ioan’s forehead; her form of a kiss. “Fucking genius.”</p>
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<p>Given that she appeared to have sobered up, Ioan allowed emself to do the same. “What do you mean?” ey asked.</p>
|
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<p>“I want to modify the project scope. Can I tell you a secret?” She was talking quickly now.</p>
|
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<p>“Yes, of course.”</p>
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<p>“I want to modify the project and add in an early history of the system, of Secession. Do you think you would be up for adding that in?”</p>
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<p>Ioan frowned. “If can I fork for it, I suppose.”</p>
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<p>May Then My Name laughed. “You are talking to an Odist, of course you can fucking fork.”</p>
|
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<p>“Alright, alright. Then what’s your secret?”</p>
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<p>“I want to write an early history of the system to parallel the current. They are very similar, you know, but it has been two hundred years. We are well past history, and doubtless there are histories already written. Yes, I remember. Of course I do. I remember the secession, I remember uploading, I remember getting lost, I remember everything. The all the great and terrible things that we did. We could write a history, but that is all already there. There are paper trails and journals and everything phys-side already knows about us, but–“</p>
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<p>Ioan’s eyes went wide as ey picked up on her idea. “You want to write a mythology.”</p>
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<p>She clapped and bounced excitedly on her feet. “Yes! Yes, a mythology. I know I have mentioned them before, and we had talked about incorporating that aspect with Dear and Codrin. The history is important, and perhaps we can write that too, but now is not the time for only history. Now is the time for–“</p>
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<p>“Stories.”</p>
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<p>In a decidedly Dear-like move, the skunk forked several times over, crowding the balcony before the bench swing with copies of herself, all of which had the same expression of glee. They quit quickly, and May Then My Name leaned forward to give Ioan a handful more of those nose-dot kisses. “You get it!”</p>
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<p>“I worked with Dear, you nut. Of course I get stories.” Ey laughed and reached up to grab her around the waist and haul her back onto the swing beside em.</p>
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<p>How different she was than Dear! Individuation is born in the decades and centuries. Ey would never have thought to be so physical with the fox, but as she laughed and slumped back against eir side, ey realized ey had long since fallen into the habit of physicality, of touch. Of, ey realized, feeling.</p>
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<p>Page generated on 2021-08-24</p>
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