update from sparkleup
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<p>“I have learned many habits, and I have dropped countless others. Perhaps that growth is our protection from unceasing memory. We may retain our memories of concrete events, of who we must have been, but I am no longer the True Name of 2124. Even remembering her feels like remembering an old friend. I remember her perfectly, and yet I do not remember how to be earnest. I do not remember how to simply celebrate. I do not know how to simply <em>be.</em>“</p>
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<p>Silence fell again while they both looked up to the sky. Nothing needed to be said right away, he figured. Something Codrin had said, though he didn’t remember when: <em>silences come with their own rhythms and will break when it’s time.</em></p>
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<p>Once he heard the clink of champagne bottle against glass again, True Name pouring herself some more, he said, keeping his voice as kind as he could, “Why are you telling me this? Why are you here?”</p>
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<p>She laughed, set the bottle aside and shifted from her kneeling position to more of a lounge, hips canted to the side with her tail draped down the gentle slope of the hill. “I do not know, Tycho. I do not remember how to celebrate, but I still want to try, I guess. Fifthrace! I could never have imagined.” After another few laps at her champagne, she sighed and added, “Sarah has gone with Codrin to Dear’s, and I am not welcome there. Answers Will Not Help and Why Ask Questions are in conversation with another me. Jonas is…Jonas.”</p>
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<p>She laughed, set the bottle aside and shifted from her kneeling position to more of a lounge, hips canted to the side with her tail draped down the gentle slope of the hill. “I do not know, Tycho. I do not remember how to celebrate, but I still want to try, I guess. Fifthrace! I could never have imagined.” After another few laps at her champagne, she sighed and added, “Sarah has gone with Codrin to Dear’s, and I am not welcome there. Answers Will Not Help and Why Ask Questions are in conversation with another me. Jonas is…Jonas. Another me is talking with him and Turun Ka”</p>
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<p>“So you came to me, of all people.”</p>
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<p>He was startled away from looking at the sky by the sound of a sniffle from the skunk.</p>
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<p>“I’m sorry, True Name. That was–“</p>
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<p>He winced. “I was wondering how that’d go.”</p>
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<p>“Rough,” she said after a moment. “As soon as I got back to Castor, I immediately felt better, but no less tired. My memories of my time aboard Artemis are only just barely coherent. They are fractured and scattered. I could tell a clear story of our time there from start to finish, but much beyond that eludes me still.”</p>
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<p>Tycho set aside his empty glass and stretched out on the grass, laying on his back once more, arms crossed beneath his head. “I was worried about that, yeah. I can’t speak to the ease of merging, but I’m glad you made it through all the same.”</p>
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<p>He could hear the grin in her voice as she said, “I am pleased to hear that. The distance between “we are coworkers and should act as such while at work” and “I don’t actually like you but have to tolerate you” is rather small, and I could not tell which it was with you.”</p>
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<p>He could hear the grin in her voice as she said, “I am pleased to hear that. The distance between “we are coworkers and should act as such while at work” and “I do not actually like you but have to tolerate you” is rather small, and I could not tell which it was with you.”</p>
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<p>“I like you,” he said, laughing at her easy humor. “You’re a little terrifying, but I respect you.”</p>
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<p>“Doubly pleased, then.”</p>
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<p>“How do you feel things went?”</p>
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<p><em>We will dream of stars,</em> Stolon had said, and he knew they would.</p>
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<p>Page generated on 2022-03-16</p>
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<p>Page generated on 2022-03-28</p>
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<p>He tentatively tried labeling the idea that coiled within him with ‘restlessness’ and found that it fit all too well. It expanded, rose, pressed against his chest from the inside. He tried, unsuccessfully, to swallow it down. It was quickly becoming too much. Too big. Too strong to keep within him.</p>
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<p>“We are well aware of this feeling,” Artante was saying. “After millennia, one gets bored easily, and there’s–“</p>
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<p>“I want to stay here,” he interrupted, surprising even himself. “Even if we don’t become fifthrace or anything. I want to stay here. I want to stay on Artemis.”</p>
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<p>Stunned silence fell around the table. Even he felt some of that shock. The words were out of his mouth before he’d even had the chance to check them for truth, and yet they bore as much truth as any mathematical theorem that he knew. They were <em>true.</em> They were <em>correct.</em> </p>
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<p>Stunned silence fell around the table. Even he felt some of that shock. The words were out of his mouth before he’d even had the chance to check them for truth, and yet they bore as much truth as any mathematical theorem that he knew. They were <em>true.</em> They were <em>correct.</em> They were <em>anemla.</em> </p>
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<p>“I also want for us to be fifthrace, I mean,” he added, voice quieter. “I want this convergence to wind up with that ending of the two. I want to join you, and I want <em>us</em> to join you.”</p>
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<p>“Tycho,” True Name said, voice low. “I understand that the talks are long, but I think there is time yet for that decision.”</p>
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<p>“Maybe,” he said, shrugging. “But if I didn’t say so, I was going to burst.”</p>
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<p>“I do, yes. Thank you, Codrin. Then yes, I want that outcome as well.” To the Artemisians, she said, “We began the project of Launch as a way to divest. We wanted to ensure the stability and continuity of our species and the Systems that we live on — Castor, Pollux, and Lagrange. We want to explore, of course, and we want to change and grow and all that comes with life, but we also want to keep living. I can think of no better opportunity for divestment than tagging along on a millennia-long journey through the galaxy.”</p>
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<p>Tycho laughed, nodded. “And hey, think of the sights we’ll get to see along the way.”</p>
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<p>“For certain definitions of see, yes.” She smiled and shrugged. “Thank you for spurring this discussion, my dear. I do not want to take too much time away from the conference, though, leader Turun Ka. I apologize if we need to get back to the topic at hand.”</p>
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<p>After the round of answers, there was a brief, blurred meeting, and then the Artemisians stood as one, each bowing as their race had when they first entered.</p>
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<p>After the round of answers, there was a long, blurred meeting, and then the Artemisians stood as one, each bowing as their race had when they first entered.</p>
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<p>Tycho stood as well, and, after a moment’s hesitation, so too did the rest of the table. He didn’t know why they were standing and bowing, but it seemed to be what the moment demanded.</p>
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<p>Something had happened, just then. Something of import. He had no clue as to what it had been. Neither did he understand how, he realized, but he knew that it was something decisive. Something, perhaps, victorious.</p>
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<p>“Leader True Name, as leader of this delegation and member of the Council of Eight,” Turun Ka said, voice bearing the weight of ritual. “I would like to formally welcome you aboard Artemis as fifthrace.”</p>
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<p>“Representative Sarah Genet,” she said through the tears. “I welcome you as a member of fifthrace aboard Artemis. You asked us if we dream, and we do. We look forward to dreaming together.”</p>
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<p>Silence followed the series of formal greetings, broken only by the sound of himself and Artante working to regain their composure.</p>
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<p>“I must admit, leader Turun Ka,” True Name said, voice hoarse. “I was not expecting this. I had been working under the assumption that we still had several steps to go on your checklist. This feels sudden.”</p>
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<p>“This is the reason for us holding two separate talks in separate locations about separate topics,” it said with a hint of a bow. “Working in parallel with different parameters increases the opportunities for forward momentum. The message that I received from Castor via recorder Codrin Bălan mentioned the penultimate step had been reached, that of acting individually for the betterment of all without the blessing of leadership. With that news, we expected that the decision point would be reached today. The opportunities for happiness and safety were created. There may yet be further talks, the rest of which will simply be between us as species with shared goals rather than delegates.”</p>
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<p>“This is the reason for us holding two separate talks in separate locations about separate topics,” it said with a hint of a bow. “Working in parallel with different parameters increases the opportunities for forward momentum. The message that I received from Castor via recorder Codrin Bălan mentioned the penultimate step had been reached, that of acting individually for the betterment of all without the blessing of leadership. With that news, we expected that the decision point would be reached today. The opportunities for happiness and safety were created. There will be further talks as long as we are within range, and even after as we join with one another, all of which will simply be between us as species with shared goals rather than delegates.”</p>
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<p>She and nodded, that faint smile returning. “A sensible approach.”</p>
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<p>“We have only small time together, <em>anem?</em> We must create speed, <em>anem?</em>” Stolon said.</p>
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<p>“Yes. Well considered. I thank you for your openness.”</p>
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<p>“I have loved the stars too fondly to be fearful of the night,” he finished, grinning. “That was the last thing I said to myself before uploading. It’ll be the last thing I’ll say before I leave Castor.”</p>
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</article>
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<footer>
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<p>Page generated on 2022-03-16</p>
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<p>Page generated on 2022-03-28</p>
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