Life2.0 - An "Of Unity" Narrative (Completed)

[CBR JGWRR]

"Back Into The Darkness, Part 6"
7th Ykrett, 6 (2183)
Daas​

Daas addressed the other members of the Board. "It is my pleasure to announce our first progress report. We have successfully repowered the bridge, and have also obtained master-level access to the ship's computer. Actually finding the computer itself is proving more difficult than planned; as far as we can tell, the main computer is inside main engineering, and we didn't have the ability to breach it then, nor do we have the ability to breach it now. Indeed such is the quality of the workmanship, our tests indicate that main engineering remains airtight, and therefore still a vacuum after we resorted to sucking out all the air to try to stop their engineers blowing up the ship."

Daas looks around. Lots of unhappy faces. Ykrett is first to speak. "Have we tried heavy explosives?"

"They are blast doors and bulkheads designed to withstand starship weapons."

Sor-Gor tries next. "Have we tried hacking through from the Captain's console?"

"Yes. System lockout."

"Drilling in from another deck?"

"Even if we could get mining equipment in, it still faces the brute force issue."

"Climb in through the exhaust?"

"Lethal radiation hazard; the plasma thrusters saturate the housing with neutrons, and as a result are too dangerous."

Naomi speaks last. "We can afford to be patient; time is on our side here, the wreck isn't going anywhere. The blast doors are strong, but not invincible. Set up a mining laser, and we will simply wait until it gets through."

Daas rechecks his calculations. "It would take weeks on our present lasers."

"Then let's get started now."

"Very well." Daas settled for the long wait. "But, there is one last issue; hygiene. The wreck is littered with Minamar dead. We have to decide what we do with them."

Ykrett slammed a boulder on the table. "Wash them away."

"That risks poisoning the water supply."

"Burn them then."

Tryykad jumps on the table. "I will not allow our enemies the rite of the last flight."

"Use them as fertiliser." Everyone looks at Rhizome. "What? At least some good would come from them then."

Naomi frowns. "Could we have some... Less disturbing proposals?"

"Freeze them?"

"They're already practically mummified."

"Make them into museum pieces." Now everyone turns to Sor-Gor, but his compound eyes give nothing away.

"Is this really the best we can be?"

"Do they deserve better?"

"It's not about what they deserve, but about our ability to be better people."

"State funerals then." Ykrett rumbles, amused at his own joke.

"Perhaps."

"You can't be serious Naomi."

"We must be better than taking vengeance on the dead." The room falls silent. It's a long wait before Naomi continues. "These people mostly died of impact injuries in the crash, or of dehydration or starvation, trapped in their quarters, or in communal areas. They suffered enough there, we don't have to mutilate the remains."

"Let's just bury them, then."

 

[HistoryDude]

Oh, poor Buri! That scene was so sad. I'm glad he made up with his family!

I hadn't even considered what was to happen to MSI's dead. This solution might make them more amenable to negotiation at least...

 

[CBR JGWRR]

Given MSI bills in the Payback Origin for damages to the Flagship and for crew casualties, they'd probably bill for killing them, and bill for exhuming the dead and then bill for getting them recovered. (And then bill their own people for returning the bodies)

 

[CBR JGWRR]

"Back Into The Darkness, Part 7"
28th Ykrett, 6 (2183)
Rivkah Of Unity​

I sit watching Daas and his team monitor the mining laser. According to Daas' calculations, the laser should breach sometime today, and well Mum and Dad have gone off into the wilderness together. Wouldn't tell me why, only that I'd find out when I'm older.

So, I'm here on behalf of the family.

The laser itself is not what I expected. I was thinking it would be an energy beam, but it's not; it's pulsed to deliver an extremely high power over a very short duration. Apparently it means that instead of heating the metal and slowly melting it, it vaporises the metal as a gas, which is being sucked out.

Even so, the blast doors are so thick and dense that they've burned almost two hundred lasers over the three weeks. Apparently the weapons R&D teams have been delighted with the project. part of the reason it's taken a week longer than Daas estimated is Rhizome wanted to rush forward a laser weapon project and it took a few days to sort out teething issues...

I don't like the idea of weapons that you can't see. I mean you could if you were in front of the energy packet, but then you wouldn't be able to see for very long... Us Xenaya don't like ranged weapons much, feels cowardly.

I suppose they're more practical. I'm not sure though, these lasers were rated at MegaWatt outputs... No wonder they burned so many, that's enough energy to power a small settlement.

I curl up for a while. Nothing is happening yet.

---

A man shakes me. "Rivkah, we have broken through the door."

I bolt up, pretend I wasn't asleep. Daas' team are levering the doors apart through the hole they've vaporised through, they've got more mining machinery in to help. After a great deal of effort the doors finally give way.

Air has already entered through the hole of course, so we walk in. And immediately wish we hadn't.

More liquid messes pooling around bones, soaked into uniforms, tools litter the floor. At least they died quicker than the others did.

Wow.

The reactor is huge, towers several decks tall. And on the far side is the main computer.

I would be excited, but I think I'm about to do something involuntary.

 

[HistoryDude]

The insight into Xenaya culture was nice.

Is Rivkah about to barf at the carnage?

 

[CBR JGWRR]

"Back Into The Darkness, Part 8"
29th Ykrett, 6 (2183)
Naomi Of Unity​

Daas' report is really quite intriguing. The Captain's console lockout has actually initiated a complete system shut down, a defensive feature that needs a high level Minamar executive to unlock the system.

Naturally, we have none. Daas has proposed using an AI to bypass the restrictions, but even weak AI is a project that would take years.

What we do have though, is Ykrett. His crystalline brain has already been used for running MSI computational substrate, and he was intended as a backup access point in the event of mechanical failure of the main computer user interface. It's why he had to spend the entire trip chained up in a spare parts locker.

Now, the fixtures and fittings are in place to link up Ykrett to the main computer. I've checked them. Of course, it won't be easy, or without pain for him.

The difficulty of course is convincing him to do it. Thankfully he's a proud and aggressive man, and it would be trivial to goad him into taking a crack at it.

Hortensus would again be regretting telling me so much. Thinking his name sends a shiver down my spine...

Seeing his body again flooded me with bad memories. I'm glad I had Rivkah with me to pull me out of them. I worry for her. I'm told she threw up on dealing with fresher bodies in engineering (no surprises there, gas emissions forming an atmosphere in engineering from the bloated bodies would have been overpowering for a Xenayan's nose) and I know that the Olinbar appearance being essentially Human freaks her out. I still don't know why they use Latin names (curiously, not Roman however; the syntax they use is wrong) but they look very close to baseline Humans; the literal third eye is the biggest difference.

I'm proud of what we've achieved so far. And with the main computer's data, we can have another technological jump forward. Things are looking brighter.

 

[CBR JGWRR]

Rivkah Interviews:
Naomi Of Unity​

I tap the start recording button. "Subject number one; Mum."

"Hello Rivkah." She laughs as she sways in her seat.

I poke at my list of questions. "Tell me - would you say that outfit suits you?"

Mum looks at the fabric draped around her upper and lower body in normal Xenayan fashion, to which she has added some decorative feathers. "Yes, it does; blends the fashion of both my ancestors back in the Iriphubliki with my adopted Xenayan family."

I stab my paper again. "When you look at the night sky, what do you feel?"

She smiles, pauses a little while. "And I will see my dreams come alive at night, and I will touch the sky."

It's Mum and it's odd, therefore it must be a quote. "Where is that quote taken from?"

"Opening theme song of Star Trek: Enterprise."

"Why does it matter to you?"

"There was a time, before MSI, when mankind dreamed of the stars." Her smile fades. "Us HaMaadimis have always been stargazers; back when Yehoshua was a child, he would look at Luna and think 'I'm going to retire there, some day'. Later, he wanted to aim for Mars; he dreamed of turning the god of war into the breadbasket of the Sol system. It was not to be of course. But Enterprise was always his favourite Star Trek series, he liked the idealism of it. We only had a few episodes accessible as me and Thando were growing up, but it was passed down how he enjoyed that Star Trek was a love-letter to the future. He believed the universe was vast and filled with wonders."

"Do you?"

She sits with her mouth slightly open. Then tilts her head, before dropping her gaze as she speaks. "I'd like to." It's a soft mumble.

I've made her sad. "I'm sorry Mum."

She reaches across, and hugs me. "The truth is Rivkah, your parents generation are afraid of the future, because of what MSI did to us. It's hard for us to look at the night sky the way my ancestors did, because ships came in the night and stole us from our homes."

"Let's change subject."

"Ok Rivkah."

I look at my sheet. "What do you love most about life here on Unity?"

She smiles again. "I love my husband, I love my daughter, and I love the community that we have all come together to build. What we've accomplished together? I couldn't be prouder than I am."

I smile. "Good answer." I poke my sheet. Try not to laugh. "What advice would you give to me?"

Mum laughs sweetly. "I'd hope all my advice is in your mind."

"Pick one thing."

"'The measure of a man is what he does when he has power.' Although Yehoshua rephrased it to the measure of a sophont."

"What does power mean to you?"

"All are slaves, and all are free, until someone has power and decides what to do with it."

"How can we be both slaves and free?"

"Because power is in decisions. It is action, and choice." She draws her blade in one hand, and takes her crown in the other. "Do I take life, or do I give life?" She looks at her hands. "These hands have felt cold metal cause a man's blood to pour from his throat, because I had power over his life, and I chose to take it from him. Yet, these hands have also cradled my newborn child, who I raise as my own. And these were both motivated by the same thing; I am she who broke the shackles, and now I seek to build a civilisation that lives for more."

"I understand Mum."

She looks straight at me. "Rivkah?"

"Yes Mum?"

"I am raising you to lead your generation out of Unity to the stars. One day, you will have power. Use it wisely."

---

New idea I'm trying out; Rivkah meets the various Leaders and interviews them. This is the test one.

I've been trying - without satisfaction - to portray the characters through the communal interactions in the Council/Board meetings, and my perception is it isn't working. My second plan - put a nice picture next to a description - fell flat because it felt impersonal. So, I'm going to try something else and have Rivkah go through a childhood reporter phase, and see what comes up; sometimes the best way to develop a character is you just throw them at some situation and see what happens.

And if nothing else, the thought of four foot tall Rivkah pinning (metaphorically) her mother to a chair and questioning her was hilarious to me.

 

[Macavity116]

I stab my paper again. "When you look at the night sky, what do you feel?"

She smiles, pauses a little while. "And I will see my dreams come alive at night, and I will touch the sky."

It's Mum and it's odd, therefore it must be a quote. "Where is that quote taken from?"

"Opening theme song of Star Trek: Enterprise."

And just like that, Naomi became my favorite character in all of AARland.

 

[CBR JGWRR]

And just like that, Naomi became my favorite character in all of AARland.

Explain please??

 

[Macavity116]

Explain please??

I'm a lifelong fan of Star Trek Enterprise. Back when I first started writing Stellaris stories, I crammed references to that show into them like the sky was falling. You just made my day by including the nod here.

 

[CBR JGWRR]

I see.

What I liked most about Enterprise was that the characters felt much more like current Humans. Ultimately it's about the people of course, and the setting felt the most exploratory, and that's ultimately what we should be doing.

If I could write a Star Trek series, I'd do "Star Trek: Magellan". Give it another decade or so on Picard, then take a ship like the Odyssey class to the Magellan cluster.

 

[HistoryDude]

I suppose having all of that information could prove useful to Rivkah one day... like if she ever needed blackmail.

It's convenient that they just so happened to have a sophont that could access MSI's systems and was willing to do so due to his pride. Oh, well. MSI clearly wasn't that smart of a megacorporation.

I love how Star Trek survived this long. I wonder if other scifi franchises (especially Star Wars) also survived?

P.S. that "Real Life Star Wars in space" idea in your Inkwell still sounds interesting...

 

[CBR JGWRR]

I suppose having all of that information could prove useful to Rivkah one day... like if she ever needed blackmail.

It's convenient that they just so happened to have a sophont that could access MSI's systems and was willing to do so due to his pride. Oh, well. MSI clearly wasn't that smart of a megacorporation.

I love how Star Trek survived this long. I wonder if other scifi franchises (especially Star Wars) also survived?

P.S. that "Real Life Star Wars in space" idea in your Inkwell still sounds interesting...

Considering the information is voluntary and without compulsion, it may or may not be of any use for blackmail.

Using people to run MSI computers was introduced back on page 7, and with Ykrett specifically on page 9. As to MSI smartness; the game gives me that their civilisation is basically breaking down under their own management, with extremely low Pop happiness, low stability, being outnumbered by slaves (especially on the homeworld) - they might have Intelligent as a trait, but they aren't very good at using it.

Star Wars also survived. Indeed, coming in with Thando when we get to introducing him is my take on my favourite extended universe character.

There was a glimpse at it with HaMaadimi Imperium and the usage of genetic engineering; the premise would be people self-modifying/some neogen engineering to create the various races from Star Wars, seed the galaxy, and subsequently get lost to history to create the setting as it might have been prior to the rise of the Rakatan Infinite Empire.

 

[CBR JGWRR]

Rivkah Interviews:
Ykrett Orre Bre'Kokt​

I look up at the magnetically connected boulders that compose Ykrett's body. While only a little taller than a fully grown Xenaya, he's still big compared to me. He's waiting for me. I poke my list. "Obviously, my generation didn't really know what it was like being under MSI control. I know Mum is thinking of asking you to link up with the main computer of the ship so that we can hack into the system, and that made me wonder what that was like. Would you mind explaining?"

He smiles. Darkly. The turquoise orbs that he sees with are unnerving. "Sure."

He pins me to the wall, off the ground, I can't move. "They take you from your home, everyone you ever care about, and start like this. They don't even hide that they are stealing you away - they did it in broad daylight, shut behind great magnetic locks that sealed me in place, forgotten."

"And then?"

He turns. That must have hurt, there's holes in his head. "Then they pinned my head in place while drilling into my brain to put their access cables in. Can you imagine that?"

"Pretty bad."

"Now keep in mind that I am crystalline. Their screwing around with magnetic fields was like what would happen if we pumped psychedelics straight into your brain."

I shudder.

"Precisely." He slams the lights off. "Then they plug you in, ripping away the feeling of your body, and leave you all alone in the dark. The only thing I can hear is the low moaning from distant cubicles where other Bevkiran were also trapped."

"That would have been maddening."

"For eight decades, until they unplugged me to load me as spares for the ship."

I gulp. "Why did they do this..."

"Power. But mainly because they were cheap on their hardware and it broke down a lot, so while setting one of us up was more fiddly, using a Bevkiran was more reliable."

"How did it feel?"

"Between the psychedelic-like sensations, you ended up a seeing and hearing statue in a nightmarish blend of euphoria and terror, trapped unable to do anything as they stole your subconscious functioning."

"How the heck are you not completely mad from all that?"

"What makes you think I'm not?"

"You're a good actor?"

"Like your mother, whatever else can be said for my mental state, I am the will within the walls. And like your mother, we are both constantly on the edge of snapping. It's why we understand each other, we've both spent many long nights in the dark telling ourselves we're ok, when we aren't ok."

"Do you really think that about her?"

"Your parents busted me out of the storage locker on the way to the armoury; Naomi knew she'd need me. Tell me Rivkah, have you ever seen your mother naked with Minamar blood on her hands?"

"Nope."

"That's how they kept her, your mother. Shackled up as a sex slave in the Captain's quarters, degraded. Her brilliant mind ignored in favour of her body. Until she snaps, and kills a man with her bare hands. She came and found me, an army behind her, fierce intelligence seething through every move, her rage burning as bright as the stars in her eyes. She led us to victory."

Mum didn't tell me that bit. I did wonder what the opened chains in the Captain's quarters had been for... "It's horrible how they treated you."

"Absolutely. Which is why we want your generation to grow in the peace you have known, and I for one will stop at nothing to mount as many Minamar on electric stunpikes as I can. Tell your mother I will brave the long dark again if she needs me to."

"Are you sure?"

"I'd sooner trust any mad ad-libbed plan of your mother's making over any plan the rest of the Board came up with even if they had months to think it through."

"I'll make sure we have lights."

He smiles.

 

[Macavity116]

I for one will stop at nothing to mount as many Minamar on electric stunpikes as I can. Tell your mother I will brave the long dark again if she needs me to."

"Are you sure?"

"I'd sooner trust any mad ad-libbed plan of your mother's making over any plan the rest of the Board came up with even if they had months to think it through."

"I'll make sure we have lights."

I like this dialogue. It shows that Rivkah was actively listening to the story and has taken something of value from it.

 

[CBR JGWRR]

I like this dialogue. It shows that Rivkah was actively listening to the story and has taken something of value from it.

Yes.

But mainly she's learned what Ykrett went through in his own words, and realised that although he is ax-crazy, he is also definitely loyal.

 

[HistoryDude]

That's... horrifying.

Now I want MSI to suffer even more.

 

[CBR JGWRR]

"Back Into The Darkness, Part 9"
31st Ykrett, 6 (2183)
Naomi Of Unity​

"Naomi, come quickly. We found a live Minamar." It's Vorosh.

Immediately I make the following deductions. He or she will have been in one of the ship canteens, living off preserves. Most likely maddened by isolation. High risk of having been tortured before I get there, with Daas trying to hold them back, my presence is necessary because anyone else will take out their rage on them. "Coming."

I follow Vorosh back to the ship as quickly as we can, very grateful that we gave her people motorised skateboards. As soon as we arrive, Daas ushers me in.

An emaciated woman stands there. I sift through my memories.

Oh bother. I recognise her.

"Vopisca?"

She turns, surprised at hearing her name. It takes her a while, as recognition takes her back. "Ah, Naomi." She looks me over. "So you can wear clothes."

I choose to deflect. "Vopisca, half the population will want to cut off and mount your head on a pike, and the other half want to mount your head on the pike with your body still attached. Cooperation is the only way you live."

She stares. "You were so much better when you were submissive."

"You know who killed Hortensus?"

"You, obviously. He never treated you nicely."

"Stop it. I'm married now." I make sure she knows. "To a man."

"Pity." She turns away from me.

I look at Daas. He shrugs.

"Naomi, you can't intimidate me. So don't try."

"Vopisca, all that keeps you alive is my assumption that I can turn you. Otherwise I will feed you to the gathering mob outside."

"You can play hardball if you want. But I know who you really are Naomi."

I force myself to concentrate. Vopisca hasn't changed at all. Realistically, there's nothing I can actually do to get through to her. She sees me as what I was before.

I draw Hortensus' pistol. "Would you prefer a quick death by me, or would you prefer the mob?"

She looks at my eyes. "Insignificant ant."

I try to mimic her insults. "Vopisca, at this point all that's keeping you alive is that I'm wondering what you did to end up here anyway. Remus failed to get you somewhere?"

She tries to slap me. But she's weak from starvation rations, and I grab her hand. "Do not presume to speak my father's name."

"Why, because he abandoned you?"

"You jumped up whore." She tries to take the gun, but Daas takes it first. I grab her wrist. She squirms. I've found one lever to pull.

I yank it as hard as I can. "It was obvious that he never wanted you, you were the third child."

She screams as she throws herself at me. But I've got twenty kilograms of muscle mass on her, and I pin her up the wall.

We're face to face.

I can smell her perfume, faintly. She always used too much. She kisses my lips, and the shock makes me recoil, by which time her hands are seizing the blade.

Gunshot.

Vopisca falls to the ground. She's in shock.

I try to hold her up. "Daas, medical kit now!"

She pours her venom into one last rasping insult. "All you will ever be, is what we had you be."

Edit for spelling.

 

[Macavity116]

My inner soldier was just screaming at Naomi the whole time. Vopsica should have been restrained at the wrists and ankles as soon as she was found. Enemy prisoners of war (EPW) are always dangerous.

Totally not talking from personal experience. (during an Army training exercise a few years back, I was "killed" by an EPW who stole my rifle while I was trying to frisk him. I'm still salty about it)

 

[CBR JGWRR]

My inner soldier was just screaming at Naomi the whole time. Vopsica should have been restrained at the wrists and ankles as soon as she was found. Enemy prisoners of war (EPW) are always dangerous.

Totally not talking from personal experience. (during an Army training exercise a few years back, I was "killed" by an EPW who stole my rifle while I was trying to frisk him. I'm still salty about it)

And now Naomi knows why that's standard practice.