update from sparkleup
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<h1 id="ioan-balan-2346">Ioan Bălan — 2346</h1>
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<div class="codehilite"><pre><span></span><code><span class="err">Convergence T+8 days, 13 hours, 23 minutes</span>
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<span class="err">(transmission delay: 7.23 days)</span>
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</code></pre></div>
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<p><em>Convergence T-plus 8 days, 13 hours, 23 minutes</em><br />
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<em>(transmission delay: 7 days, five hours, 31 minutes)</em></p>
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<p>Ioan and May both awoke to messages. May, however, was the first to read hers, having gotten up before her partner, so when Ioan stumbled out of bed toward coffee, the skunk was already sitting at the table, her note before her and eirs still in its clade-eyes-only envelope, waiting for em.</p>
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<p>“As soon as you are a real person, my dear, I need you to read this and tell me what is happening.”</p>
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<p>Ey frowned, nodded, and diverted from the coffee pot to splash water on eir face to help em wake up faster. Something about the skunk’s attitude suggested something stressful was afoot. Stressful or exciting. Ey couldn’t tell which.</p>
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<h1 id="ioan-balan-2346">Ioan Bălan — 2346</h1>
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<div class="codehilite"><pre><span></span><code><span class="err">Convergence T+19 days, 18 hours, 16 minutes</span>
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<span class="err">(transmission delay: 7.23 days)</span>
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</code></pre></div>
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<blockquote>
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<p><em>Convergence T-plus 19 days, 18 hours, 16 minutes</em><br />
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<em>(transmission delay: 7 days, 5 hours, 32 minutes)</em></p>
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<p>While Ioan could not say that the changes in May since the therapy had started in earnest were dramatic, they were immediate. Just subtle changes in the way she talked, for the most part. Ey suspected that many of them would fade over time, but for now, ey was curious to watch the ways in which she would occasionally catch herself up short, reevaluate what she was in the process of saying, and then continue more carefully. Ey was also pleased to see her journaling, as the skunk was not one for sitting down and writing, preferring to keep everything in her head unless she absolutely needed to.</p>
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<p>She was not a ‘new May’ or anything so grand, but it was a sign to em that she was working hard at what she’d set her mind to, and while ey hadn’t doubted that she would, it was still heartening to see, just as it had been nice to see the depression slowly lift as promised.</p>
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<p>Today, though, was a day for picnics. This was, ey was assured, a universal fact.</p>
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<h1 id="ioan-balan-2346">Ioan Bălan — 2346</h1>
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<div class="codehilite"><pre><span></span><code><span class="err">Convergence T-0 days, 1 hour, 3 minutes</span>
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<span class="err">(transmission delay: 7.23 days)</span>
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</code></pre></div>
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<blockquote>
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<p><em>Convergence T-plus 3 days, 1 hour, 3 minutes</em><br />
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<em>(Castor–Lagrange transmission delay: 7 days, 5 hours, 31 minutes)</em></p>
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</blockquote>
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<p>Depression, Ioan had long known but struggled to internalize, was fundamentally different from sadness, just as it was different from May’s overwhelming waves of emotions.</p>
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<p>Ey was confronted with it now, forced to see the way the emotion — or non-emotion, as May put it — affected one on a more fundamental level than anything so simple as sadness could hope to. Those overwhelming waves, as the one she’d just recovered from, were fundamental in their own way, but far, far less existential.</p>
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<p>It was bound by the cycle of the day, and so Ioan and May would spend their mornings strategizing their evenings, ensuring that they were able to have as pleasant a time as that ashen feeling May described would allow, to work as well as they could manage through that fog.</p>
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<p>“Shush, you’re fine. I think she, of all people, understands a reaction like that.” Ey picked up another square of paper from the stack and began trying to fold again. “But that’s enough talk of that for now. If you want dinner, you have to help me get at least one of these made.”</p>
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<p>Page generated on 2022-02-12</p>
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<h1 id="ioan-balan-2346">Ioan Bălan — 2346</h1>
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<blockquote>
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<p><em>Convergence T-plus 2 days, 0 hours, 11 minutes</em>
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<p><em>Convergence T-plus 2 days, 0 hours, 11 minutes</em><br />
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<em>(Castor–Lagrange transmission delay: 7 days, 5 hours, 31 minutes)</em></p>
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<p>Ioan#98ae38dc arrived at the appointed coffee shop a good hour in advance. The meeting had been eir idea, but it had also been eir primary source of stress during the day prior to it.</p>
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<h1 id="codrin-balancastor-2346">Codrin Bălan#Castor — 2346</h1>
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<div class="codehilite"><pre><span></span><code><span class="err">Convergence T+1 day, 18 hours, 46 minutse</span>
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</code></pre></div>
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<blockquote>
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<p><em>Convergence T-plus 1 day, 18 hours, 46 minutes</em></p>
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<p>While it wouldn’t have been totally true to call the celebration at Codrin’s return ‘wild’, it was certainly rambunctious in its own delightfully Dear way, with dozens of foxes scattering around the patio in a flurry of forking. Plenty of hugging and chatting and laughing and smiling.</p>
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<p>Ey’d been startled, in that half-doubled, roundabout way that an up-tree instance might feel, when ey merged down to find that True Name and Jonas had requested that Codrin#Assist stay at their compound rather than returning home except for an hour around dinner. The fox’s excitement made more sense, knowing that.</p>
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<p>At least ey’d had the chance to pull the fox’s tail.</p>
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<p>Sarah laughed and raised her coffee mug. “To the proper amount of excitement.”</p>
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<p>Dear hoisted its own mug as thought it was an ale-filled tankard. <em>“Precisely, my dear!”</em></p>
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<p>Codrin smiled, sipping eir coffee as ey watched. <em>Proper amount of excitement, indeed.</em></p>
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<p>After Sarah left, the triad sat around the table, saying nothing, simply processing this new future that lay before them. It felt almost too large for Codrin to comprehend. Something new. Something enormous. Something that felt somehow larger than the launches. Those, at least, had the advantage of being something that ey could predict, a frame of reference. Society continued much as it had before, after all, hadn’t it? They had decamped from Legrange for the LVs and everything looked exactly the same, minus only the few friends who had not done so.</p>
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<p>After Sarah left, the triad sat around the table, saying nothing, simply processing this new future that lay before them. It felt almost too large for Codrin to comprehend. Something new. Something enormous. Something that felt somehow larger than the launches. Those, at least, had the advantage of being something that ey could predict, a frame of reference. Society continued much as it had before, after all, hadn’t it? They had decamped from Lagrange for the LVs and everything looked exactly the same, minus only the few friends who had not done so.</p>
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<p>This, though, held so many unknowns.</p>
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<p>It was exciting, and that it was exciting to em bore excitement of its own. Something new, yes, but something different. Ey felt before em a vast landscape ey’d never explored. While the prairie always contained unknown spaces, it could not hold a candle to the future that lay before them.</p>
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<p>Only one anxiety remained, then.</p>
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<h1 id="codrin-balan-2346">Codrin Bălan — 2346</h1>
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<div class="codehilite"><pre><span></span><code><span class="err">Convergence T+10 days, 15 hours, 42 minutes</span>
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</code></pre></div>
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<ul>
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<li><em>Convergence T-plus 10 days, 15 hours, 42 minutes</em></li>
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</ul>
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<p>The decision to send a fork along to Artemis had gone over better than ey had expected. Eir partners had initially bridled at the idea of em — or at least an instance of em — moving on without them, but when ey explained that that fork would miss them dreadfully and could also to quit at any time in case ey began to miss eir family too much, they relaxed.</p>
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<p><em>“While I do not wish to see you test whether or not you will be able to get over missing us,”</em> Dear had said. <em>“I recognize the impulse to explore and advance ones own knowledge.”</em></p>
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<p>“Oh, I don’t know,” eir other partner had responded. “I wish that Codrin the best of luck. Perhaps it will become a case of em picking another name and growing a new identity.”</p>
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</header>
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<article class="content">
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<h1 id="tycho-brahe-2346">Tycho Brahe — 2346</h1>
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<div class="codehilite"><pre><span></span><code><span class="err">Convergence T+1 day, 21 hours, 38 minutes</span>
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</code></pre></div>
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<blockquote>
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<p><em>Convergence T-plus 1 day, 21 hours, 38 minutes</em></p>
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</blockquote>
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<p>The process of leaving the talks was one of emotion bound up in the stress of merging. As unpracticed as he was at forking, the process of quitting and reconciling memories was just as foreign to him. Ordinarily it would have taken an hour for Tycho#Castor to sort through the memories from Tycho#Artemis and then another two for Tycho#Tasker to sort through the memories from #Artemis for a few weeks’ divergence.</p>
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<p>These were not ordinary times.</p>
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<p>The better part of eight hours later, he was singular once more, back in his field, back atop his hill, finally able to sit and think and dream without having the pressing weight of memories pinning him in place. He could lay on his back and look up at the sky — no longer just his sky — and think about all that had transpired and all that was yet to come.</p>
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<p>“I can’t speak to your thoughts on not knowing how to be. I don’t think I’m any better at it, honestly. Sarah would probably be your best bet.”</p>
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<p>“I will be meeting with her soon, yes. We have much to talk about.”</p>
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<p>“About the convergence?”</p>
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<p>She shrugged, a subtle shifting of shadow. “That too, yes, but also, news from Legrange has been distressing. Much of the clade will be seeking…well, therapy.”</p>
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<p>She shrugged, a subtle shifting of shadow. “That too, yes, but also, news from Lagrange has been distressing. Much of the clade will be seeking…well, therapy.”</p>
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<p>He frowned up to the sky, unable to think of anything to say to that that would not be rude or patronizing.</p>
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<p>“Our cracks are showing,” the skunk continued in a far-away voice. “Growth is colliding with eternal memory, and the cracks are showing.”</p>
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<p>He nodded, unsure of whether or not she could even see the gesture.</p>
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<article class="content">
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<h1 id="tycho-brahe-2346">Tycho Brahe — 2346</h1>
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<div class="codehilite"><pre><span></span><code><span class="err">Convergence T+6 days, 20 hours, 18 minutes</span>
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</code></pre></div>
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<blockquote>
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<p><em>Convergence T-plus 6 days, 20 hours, 18 minutes</em></p>
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</blockquote>
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<p>“Who’s idea was this?” Tycho asked, staring, unbelieving, at the heat-haze shimmer before him.</p>
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<p>True Name grinned proudly. “A cocladist of mine came up with this. I would not recommend walking past the barrier. It is dreadfully hot beyond there, even for a desert creature such as her.”</p>
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<p>He shook his head, looking once more from the ground to the sky. They stood on a well trimmed lawn at the edge of a forest, the shade provided by lingering oaks and birches delightfully cool amid the just-shy-of-too-warm day. The grass continued right up to a shimmering barrier of heat, where it quickly failed, a no-man’s-land of scrub lasting only a few feet before it fell away into sand. A true desert stretched out as far as he could see before him. Rolling dunes, painfully blue skies, mirages dancing along the horizon.</p>
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<p>“This will be the entryway that those arriving to the DMZ will see,” True Name said.”It is intended to be an area where the newly arrived can orient themselves, but also one that will be pleasant for those who have visited before. We are working with a few sim architects from Artemis to introduce a few mixed aspects of greenery and architecture to make it feel familiar to all five races.”</p>
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<p>“Are we going to keep calling it the DMZ?”</p>
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<p>She shook her head. “That would not be a good look, no. We have a short list of names that we are in the process of workshopping. The current top of the list is simply Convergence, though ‘Gemini’ and simply ‘the shared space’ are also in the list.”</p>
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<p>He shook his head. “Gemini doesn’t fit. Tyndareus, if you want to stick with the Castor and Pollux names, but that’d make more sense for Legrange. I like Convergence best.”</p>
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<p>He shook his head. “Gemini doesn’t fit. Tyndareus, if you want to stick with the Castor and Pollux names, but that’d make more sense for Lagrange. I like Convergence best.”</p>
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<p>“Convergence it is, then,” the skunk said, chuckling and gesturing him toward a shaded bench. “Beyond this area, however, there is not much else. We have a smaller version of our compound already ported over, and I am pleased that you have agreed to let us bring your field over.”</p>
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<p>Tycho sat on the bench and leaned back against it, looking out into the plaza. “Nothing else, though?”</p>
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<p>“Not yet. The border will open officially later today to both members of Castor and Artemis. The passage into Convergence will be rate-limited throughout this process. We will ensure that this area does not beggar the rest of the System for capacity, as we were informed during the conference that the Artemisians all take up a bit more space than we do, as should probably be expected by five-thousand year old consciousnesses. Still, we are not hurting for space.”</p>
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<article class="content">
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<h1 id="tycho-brahe-2346">Tycho Brahe — 2346</h1>
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<div class="codehilite"><pre><span></span><code><span class="err">Convergence T+28 days, 5 hours, 57 minutes</span>
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</code></pre></div>
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<blockquote>
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<p><em>Convergence T-plus 19 days, 5 hours, 57 minutes</em></p>
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<p>“I don’t own a suit, and while I could have picked one up, it seemed like too much work for the occasion,” Tycho said once the clock struck eight and he’d stood from his seat at the head of the table. “So the usual jeans and flannel it is.”</p>
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<p>Those gathered laughed.</p>
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<p>They’d claimed a portion of the plaza for his last dinner, setting up a long table not too dissimilar from that which they’d sat at for the conference. He had sat at one end, and at the other True Name sat, smiling and watching him rise for his speech. To his right sat Codrin and eir two partners, both of whom had spent much of the evening conversing with each other and the few scientists who sat to his left and the Artemisians beyond. He’d not missed the fact that they seemed to be ignoring the other three Odists as best they could other than to accept praise for the food they’d cooked for the occasion.</p>
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<p>The mood had settled into somber, present, and while most eyes were dry, he could tell there was still sadness in there.</p>
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<p>“I won’t quote the whole thing, since it’s quite long, but there’s a few bits that I’d like to share with you before I leave.</p>
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<p>“There has been a something wanting in my nature until now; I can dimly comprehend it,—that I might have been more kind, Might have cherished you more wisely, as the one I leave behind.</p>
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<p>“Perhaps I should have cherished you all more while I was here. I really don’t know. It’s not in my nature to cherish people, for better or worse, but maybe I should have cherished my time here on Castor, or even back on Legrange, more than I did. It was still home, wasn’t it? I lived here. I loved what I did. “What, for us,” Williams writes. “Are all distractions of men’s fellowship and smiles? What, for us, the goddess Pleasure, with her meretricious wiles?” Pleasure came second, and the fallout of that is that I was fundamentally unhappy, and thus perhaps unable to cherish.</p>
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<p>“Perhaps I should have cherished you all more while I was here. I really don’t know. It’s not in my nature to cherish people, for better or worse, but maybe I should have cherished my time here on Castor, or even back on Lagrange, more than I did. It was still home, wasn’t it? I lived here. I loved what I did. “What, for us,” Williams writes. “Are all distractions of men’s fellowship and smiles? What, for us, the goddess Pleasure, with her meretricious wiles?” Pleasure came second, and the fallout of that is that I was fundamentally unhappy, and thus perhaps unable to cherish.</p>
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<p>“That’s not to say that I won’t miss you all. Some of you are up on Artemis already, and some more may join in these last few days before the Ansible shuts down, but no matter what, I <em>will</em> miss you all.</p>
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<p>“It’s just that, as the poem says, “I have sown, like Tycho Brahe, that a greater man may reap; But if none should do my reaping, ‘twill disturb me in my sleep.” I’m headed off to newer places, to learn the later sciences at the feet of those who have been traveling for so long. I’ve done my work, though I’ve left it incomplete. Many of you will have much to work on to complete it. You must!</p>
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<p>“In fact, I think the only thing I’m leaving behind that is well and truly finished to my liking is my sim, and even then, it sounds like perisystem engineers are working on getting visual transmission piped in.”</p>
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<h1 id="codrin-balanartemis-2346">Codrin Bălan#Artemis — 2346</h1>
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<div class="codehilite"><pre><span></span><code><span class="err">Convergence T-1 day, 1 hour, 58 minutes</span>
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</code></pre></div>
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<p><em>Convergence T-minus 1 day, 1 hour, 58 minutes</em></p>
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<p>As suggested, Codrin and Sarah wound up in the courtyard.</p>
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<p>There seemed to be no immediate recovery from the events of the past hour. There was no conversation to be had, no words that could be spoken to express so singular an event. There had been a…was it a death? And then a cryptic pronouncement. And ey had watched True Name…was it sharing in confidence, a request for companionship, or something else?</p>
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<p>Ey felt dazed, unmoored from reality. Ey could feel more clearly the way that time clung to em in a way it couldn’t back home, back on Castor. It was no stronger now than it had been at the beginning of the day, but, as might happen when one remembers that one is breathing, ey was suddenly and intensely aware of it.</p>
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<p>Tycho nodded, “I’m only on Castor and Pollux, yeah.”</p>
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<p>“Is Pollux same?”</p>
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<p>“Yeah, they started out identical, but they’ve diverged over time.” He frowned, shrugged. “I bet Tycho#Pollux is feeling awful now, missing all of this.”</p>
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<p>“No Tycho on Legrange construct?”</p>
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<p>“No Tycho on Lagrange construct?”</p>
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<p>“Nope, I invested fully. Did you leave an instance of yourself back on your original system?”</p>
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<p>“<em>Lu</em>…yes, but they exited after convergence and distance grew. Friends say that Stolon got sad, spent all of time thinking about Artemis.” They lifted their snout to peer up at him. “Tycho will join if possible, <em>anem?</em>“</p>
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<p>Codrin also looked to Tycho. The astronomer was already grinning widely. It was far more positive emotion than ey’d seen on his face to date, and ey couldn’t imagine any other answer than what came next.</p>
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<p>“<em>Anem!</em> Of course I will.”</p>
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<h1 id="tycho-braheartemis-2346">Tycho Brahe#Artemis — 2346</h1>
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<div class="codehilite"><pre><span></span><code><span class="err">Convergence T-0 days, 0 hours, 18 minutes</span>
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<p><em>Convergence T-minus 0 days, 0 hours, 18 minutes</em></p>
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<p>Tycho awoke with the idea fully formed within himself.</p>
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<p>So sudden was the realization that his immediate instinct was to shove it to the back of his mind and do his level best to forget about it. He didn’t want to admit it to True Name, to Sarah or Stolon, and even Codrin, grounding as ey was, seemed to be too real to discuss it with.</p>
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<p>He barely even wanted to admit it to himself. Didn’t want to name it, put words to it.</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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