RP Chapter 3: Of Space and Time

[Ametheliana]

Kyopelinvuori
Sudran in System Azorea
Aaki's Office
Bukor 1, 942
9:56, Commonwealth Standard Time

A holographic projection system had been set up in the center of Aaki's office for the discussion with the Freespacer AI, Cinereal, that would be negotiating with the Iromakuanhe diplomat, Aaki Loleth. The Iromakuanhe held her chin high with a painted face and heavily darkened eyelids. Her her orange hair was held in an eccentric bun that twisted and looped around her head, giving her an abstract look. She wore silken robes that ended mid-thigh and an ornate necklace that protruded significantly from her neck.

Sitting in on the discussion in order to speak more closely with the AI about his own interests was a Neplslian senator, Hugh "Huey" Graves. With him was Sgt. Alistair Thorn of the Nepleslian Space Marine Corps, his body guard.

Waiting for the Freespacer that was ensuring these talks happened, Mito, Aaki looked out the rain-stained window and then back to Huey.

"You are quite the gentlemen for arriving early. Thank you for that," Aaki said in a smooth voice.

 

[Syaoran]

Aaki's Office

Mahsa had embarrassed herself a bit last time, or at least she felt that way about it herself. She was late in serving beverages to the guest, and it wasn't even some that she prepared herself. The second time was different however. She had brewed coffee already, and though she read that Nepleslians often liked it black, she added a few spices from Maekardan to give it a more refined flavor, since she did not know enough to choose a proper 'fine brand' to import.

Her appearance had also changed quite a bit as well. The main portion of her outfit was a saffron mekhela chador wrapped in such a way that her collar outlined in a similar way to a woman's blazer. Underneath was a an azure choli blouse with three-quarter sleeves that was once again tight fitting. However thanks to this arrangement only her forearms and her shins were exposed, and she refrained from patterned fabric due to the nature of the work.

The former consort made her way over to the Nepleslian guest, first to Huey and pouring him a glass of coffee at his seat, trying to keep Nepleslian formalities with the process as best she could. Afterwards she her way to Alistair, though she knew he was on guard and might not accept, she still spoke up to offer him some as well "Would you like some coffee?"

 

[Gunhand4171]

Aaki's Office

Huey smiled at Aaki, dressed in a crisp black suit with a dark green tie. "Our pleasure Ms. Aaki. We wouldn't miss an opportunity to speak with Cinerea. Thank you for letting us sit in on your meeting." The Nepleslian diplomat replied, thanking Mahsa with a nod for the coffee. "What are you expecting from these talks?" He asked the Iroma Diplomat.

The sergeant was in his normal place in Aaki's office, up against the wall. He was dressed in his dress uniform, and beret. He was scrolling through reports when Mahsa approached.

Alistair smiled. "Yes please Ms. Mahsa. Thank you." The Nepleslian replied. "So, how did you end up as Ms. Aaki's assistant?

 

[Syaoran]

Aaki's Office

Mahsa gave a soft smile to Alistair at his question and then put the coffee down on the hotplate to keep it warm before answering. "Well, I used to work as a Dream Consort." She spoke in a soft voice so that she did not distract the two diplomats from their conversation as she stood next to Alistair. "It's a job with a lot of different duties...but I believe the best equivalent in your culture would be a masseuse and a counselor at the same time. But I felt that maybe it was time to take my practice to those who have the stress of politics as well as not being able to be on our home world."

 

[Ametheliana]

Aaki's Office

Aaki tilted her head and looked to the Nepleslian. She wanted to know more about the dichotomy between his race's reputation and what she saw in front of her and with every word he spoke, the line between the two things grew even more apparent and the distance, all the more wide.

"Trade talks will place today, Senator," Aaki said. "I expect both the Freespacers and the Iromakuanhe to get equally meaningful objects of desire from the other today."

 

[Gunhand4171]

Aaki's Office

Huey nodded. "Hopefully Nepleslia may be able to become a trade partner of yours as well." Hurt said leaning back in his chair, taking a sip of his coffee. He was hopeful that the Iroma would take the idea seriously, however knew that it would take some time.

Alistair nodded and smiled. "A masseuse huh? You know my shoulders are really sore..." He said jokingly. He took the coffee and took a sip. He wished it had been black, but held his tongue. He had definitely had worse onboard ships. "So a Dream Consort turned political aid. You seem to be moving up in the world." He added.

 

[Syaoran]

Aaki's office

Mahsa gave a soft laugh at Alistair's response, able to tell it was a joke. She smiled though when she saw him drink the coffee that she had made. "Whether I move up or down, as long as I am able to help people I am satisfied." She looked over to Aaki and Huey, not trying to ease drop, but she was interested in their conversation. "As for a massage, I can offer you one when I am off work." She looked back to Alistair with a smile that showed that she loved both her old and her new job.

 

[Primitive Polygon]

Aaki's office

"▒I have a considerable quantity of rare muscle relaxants, Senator Graves...▒" A grating synthetic voice, peaking at both ends with a chirp of static. "▒One need only ask.▒"

Fleshassembler Mitochondrion could move surprisingly quietly for someone so bogged down in technical apparatus. The odd voice actually crackled from a neck microphone attached to a gas mask, with the rest of the odd-shaped thing being more plastic-clad and organic. The backpack was big enough to fit a second torso inside, the pockets in their pants were filled to bursting point with all sorts of cards and cables, and their four arms were lugging along what looked like a large metal sculpture of a hypercube. The carried object was filled with blinking lights at the center. Some kind of portable syntelligence core?...

Everything was disinfected, sprayed and wiped down with a multitude of chemicals. About three different adapters were attached to the hologram machine, culminating in a flat-headed mindware jack. When it was all set up, the freespacer was sitting cross-legged upon a foam mat, in almost a meditation-like pose, all sorts of interfaces and power leads winding from their body and into the chest-sized suspended AI cube. Last to go in was the polysentience cable routed into the back of their neck, which they took extra care in sterilizing, before finally snapping it in place with an audible click.

"▒Thank you for your patience. We have established contact with the relay ship at sector 1228.▒" A calm, methodical tone, glancing upwards at their graceful Iromakuanhe host. "▒Do I have your permission to begin, Miss Aaki Loleth?▒"

 

[Ametheliana]

Aaki's Office

"Yes, Senator, that is something certainly to be discussed," the conclave member, Aaki Loleth, said. The room fell mostly quiet while the Freespacer plugged in and Aaki tilted her head a bit, noting the similarities between the Freespacer and her own kind. Without thinking, she rubbed the entry ports on her elbow with the hand of the other arm and grimaced at the thought of such rigorous sterilization.

What terrible atrocities would befall Mito if she did not take such precautions, Aaki wondered.

Aaki raised her head upwards so that her nose was pointing up just a little bit more than necessary as she was asked for permission. She spoke slowly, but not as if she felt the listener slow, but to show equal respect back to them.

"Permission is not only granted, I welcome the opportunity to speak with you and all others of your kind, Fleshassembler Mitochondrion. Thank you for allowing me to do so."

 

[Syaoran]

Aaki's Office

When the Freespacer stepped into the office, Mahsa made a light gesture to Alistair "Give me a moment." She then stepped away and walked over to where she had prepared the drinks for today. The coffee was made especially for the Nepleslians, however, she had something else prepared for Mitochondrian. It was not that she was holding back or anything for one side or the other, just she was more confident in beverages other than coffee, but felt Nepleslians were more comfortable with coffee based on what she had heard.

Either way, as all kinds of equipment, was sterilized, attached, pluged in, tethered, and whatever else needed to be done, Mahsa prepared a fresh cup of tea. It was made using Iromakuanhe herbs as well, however, she tried to keep the fragrance from overpowering the drink, since she had learned Freespacers did not exactly come into contact with a lot of flora.

After she finished preparing the cup she placed it on a saucer in front of Mitochondrian, along with a serving dish of sugar to sweeten it to her taste. She was careful not to at any point stand in the Spacer's line of sight towards either of the delegates, showing that her practice brought results. Once she was done however she stepped aside and returned to standing out of the way with Alistair.

 

[Primitive Polygon]

Aaki's Office

"▒Most gracious of you!▒" Mito answered the ambassador first, but still turned to Mahsa in order to fully acknowledge the receiving of a beverage, as well. "▒-And your fine attendant, too!▒"

This person was from a culture that had abolished what little class the old Free State had created, after all. Mitochondrion would not think it strange to cherish an non-sentient automata for it's fine service, and did so frequently.

The type of being they must communicate with now, however... Their reluctance on that subject matter couldn't have been any more obvious. Pausing, clasping the small metal mug with three of four hands...

"▒...Please stand by... We are downloading avatar data to this location...▒"

A blue, amorphous blur flickered in the air for a moment. The thing went from wireframe, to low res textures, to something that was so detailed with such impossibly small fractal patterns that it was actually painful to look at for too long. This machine didn't choose a humanoid shape or even a realistic robotic one for it's appearance, instead appearing like a giant bacteriophage with all sorts of blue-black, wispy tendrils hanging off of it's spindly shape like moss.

"I do not appear before flesh forms lightly. I am a planet. Please seek to make this worth my time." Body or not, this thing's voice was higher quality audio than Mito's. And it chose to deploy that power by sounding absolutely bored and unimpressed as possible. "I've researched your technology. This Fleshassembler's idea of using your organic hull plating is a short sighted and pointless exercise."

The pale organic woman bit their tongue. The Viridian Array, her parent organisation, was founded to stop this exact creature from disassembling everything the Nepleslians had built with the Spacers. Petty animosity was the minimum to be expected...

"Tell me... Your... 'symbiotics', they can produce the effect of a radio transmitter, using only organic components, can they not?..." It gazed towards Aaki Loleth, at least as much as one of the random surface lumps could gaze. "I wonder... Do you think it would be possible to genetically engineer an individual with these features at birth?"

"▒You're talking about creating... organic mindware?..▒"

"The sickly thing speaks! HA!" It laughed bellowingly, moving but a twitch to indicate it was observing her with jest. Being as it was technically already inside her head, the gesture couldn't have meant anything else but mockery, really. "I was beginning to worry!"

 

[Gunhand4171]

Aaki's Office

The Nepleslians turned their gaze to the newcomer as the Freespacer ambassador entered. Huey turned and nodded. "A pleasure to make your acquaintance Fleshassembler Mitochondrion. I'm the Nepleslian Ambassador, Hugh Grave. Thank you for allowing me to sit in." He said to the Freespacer.

He listened intently as Aaki began her talks with the entity currently using Mito, he held back his urge to speak. He wished to say a lot of things, his Nepleslian nature attempting to seep through, but he held it together. It was a politicians job after all.

Alistair nodded as she left to attend to the Freespacer, watching her as she walked away. When she returned he smiled. "I would like a massage when your free if you don't mind... I think that sounds rather nice." He said softly with a grin to Mahsa. "I'd like to learn what a "Dream Consort" is all about." He added.

 

[Ametheliana]

Aaki's Office

The Iromakuanhe politician was not taken aback, but half astounded the talks were off to such a good start, given the inherent nature of the Freespacers. Cinereal was of great importance to gaining more Veyrinite and ending the diaspora's ability to hold that over the Commonwealth's head. Treating the being with respect meant getting to the point and finding a trade deal that worked for the both of them.

"Yes, it is a possibility, though we will monitor your workings on this project very closely, as we expect you to monitor the leyline gateways we expect you to build in the blue rift expanse in exchange for this organic mindware you propose to create with our symbiotic technology."

She kept it brief and to the point, not willing to over complicate things with this being.

 

[Syaoran]

Aaki's Office

Mahsa could not help but overhear bits and pieces of the conversation, but what stood out to her the most was the voice of the console, it was so flat that it disturbed her, something that did not show emotion in its voice, while not unheard of to her, it made trust difficult, and it showed on her face. Fortunately, she was out of direct sight and had the time to fix her expression and turned her attention to the man beside her. "If you tell me where you are staying I can arrange it, it's good to spread awareness too, I have heard there are a lot of misunderstandings about our touch therapy."

 

[Primitive Polygon]

Aaki's Office

"How about an accelerated growth pattern? Is that something you could help us research?" The huge phantom virus leaped directly to the next demand without pleasantries. It's face was hard to read, given that it didn't have one, but the pale-haired spacer doctor certainly seemed equal parts confused and cautious about the things it was asking for. "That smoldering ball of coal Chumdiyen isn't really a nice place for a bio-lab, but we can set up a gate there... Hurm, yes... A headquarters on Maekardan itself may be an agreeable development locale for us both."

"Oh, yes, and this... 'Veyrinite' that you wanted..." Spoken like a deliberate name drop to keep Aaki interested, the thing certainly took it's time, saying the word with an almost absent-minded disinterest. "It can be converted here from a certain combination of elements, at a rate of zero point zero zero four percent per year... Not very impressive, is it?... Though I guess there is the small matter of the estimated one hundred and seventy three trillion kilotons suggested to already exist in an area some nine hundred and eight light years wide..."

Another lazy pause. Damn program-bug-thing had a love of amateur dramatics. And the ability to create a smug smile with a tone of voice alone.

"You didn't want all of it by tomorrow, did you?"

Mito had been swallowing their pride during all of this, drinking the soothing tea through a straw that extended out of a special face port in the mask. But their looks towards the tall, slim Nepleslian diplomat were getting more frequent; The expression of a person who wished they'd made more of a formal introduction, but had missed their chance...

"▒Miss Loleth... If you agree with this plan... Please also consider my application to lead the genetic research team...▒" The tone was very cautious, but stern enough to suggest they weren't willing to be ignored completely. "▒Ambassador Graves, have you worked with the Viridian Array at all?... Their open involvement with your fine coalition of worlds is not something the Locksmiths have attempted, yes?... I hate to ask such a baited question, but... I fear this agreement could end with a tool that serves only Cinereal's ends...▒"

"Don't jump the grinder, you insolent meatflap!" The attitude dropped, taking the last remark quite personally. Though it had been personally ignoring Graves the entire time... "This project is bigger than you or me! Have you forgotten just how low our organic population still is? You can't fix that just by recruiting random Nepleslian homeless crazies off the streets!"

 

[Ametheliana]

Aaki's Office

Aaki sat back in her chair and steepled her hands as she smiled, stifling the bemused thoughts coming into her mind. she sat like that for an extended period of time, giving pause enough to let Huey speak up for himself while she churned over all that this Cinereal had said, as well as Mito's proposition to lead the research. On top of that, she had to think about Mito's declaration that Cinereal was serving its own ends. Her brilliant eyes looked to the Nepleslian Senator while her orange brows shot up on her forehead and her lips pursed. It was a questioning look that she didn't let last too long before regaining a confidant, but neutral expression.

 

[Gunhand4171]

Aaki's Office

Huey, seemed to shrug off the Cinereal's uncouth remark. The politician grimaced only slightly at the remark, before he cleared his throat to reply. "I personally have not, but I used to work under one of the diplomats that did. Currently, my counterparts have worked out a deal for them to share a system with us and allowed them to convert one of our fortress stations for their use." He replied to Mito. "But we have not had much involvement with the Locksmiths as far as I am aware. Nepleslia would be happy to work something out in exchange for our help with this endeavor." Huey replied, crossing his arms across his chest. "I'm sure their is something that we could bring to the table." He added with a smile.

Alistair nodded to Mahsa. "I will forward the address to you if you'd like. It's one of the hotels near here." He replied readying the address and suite number in his cybernetic eye and waiting to send it. When he heard Cinereal's insult, he almost shot a nasty retort back. However, the Sergeant bit his tongue and stayed quite. He instead just turned his attention back to Mahsa.

 

[Primitive Polygon]

Aaki's Office

"Not interested." The blue shadow said bluntly in response to the Nepleslian man, not even taking a pause for dramatic effect this time. It's voice became inhumanly deep all of a sudden. "We had plenty enough of your kind of help after the genocide... We gave you all of our technology, and you did nothing to retaliate against Yamatai..."

"▒Look, I'm not here to argue with you, Cinereal... But we can't dwell on the past forever.▒" Mito held her face in her hands for a moment, before looking up again with a suddenly very tired expression. She was too young to have experienced the calamity herself, but evidently had been raised by people every bit as zealous and vengeful as the holographic projection sounded. Despite this, she still turned towards Huey next, and bundled up her hands in a clear sign of thanks. "▒We are very pleased with the deal over that Bulwark station, Mister Graves. Progress has been slow because we were busy obtaining a new food source on 188604, but we have every intention of assisting your expansion into the gold coast... I realize the ways of our fractured nation may seem strange to outsiders, but I assure you that one or two loud voices cannot drown out the true voice of our people.▒"

"▒Here, Miss Aaki. A gift.▒" Unfurling their knapsack, a glass tube filled with viscous turquoise gel was produced, before being presented forward with Mito's head just slightly bowed. "▒It's a Liquid Ally. A semi-sentient biotech creature. It can repair most metals without tools, learn new programs, or just serve as a faithful pet... Perhaps it may give you some inspiration as to what our union of minds might bring?▒"

"-I wasn't finished with our end of the bargain, horned one." Cinereal had been subdued by talk of their species' darkest hour, and probably realized that it was flying off the handle, but wasn't finished with it's demands just yet. The thing really was nothing like a traditional AI. "It's the Veyrinite that you want more than anything, right? Well, that research is only going to pay for our setup. Gathering it is quite complicated you see, in unstable space... Next up is living space. Those standardized interior compartments you make. That's the meat of the deal... Shall we call it... One of each and eight passenger rooms, per two kilograms of Veyrinite. That's our price."

Mito looked towards their elegant host, towards the blue thing, and then back again. She knew it was steep price, but they were talking about drastically increasing their population size, here... They needed somewhere to put all those people, too...

 

[Ametheliana]

Aaki's Office

"Let me go over everything so that we're both sure neither of us is missing anything." Aaki looked towards Mahsa, gauging the former Consort's opinion of this deal before letting her eyes lsip past her and go to the window, which she looked out of for a brief moment before her attention snapped back to the AI.

"You would like to bio-engineer a way for our symbiotes to be present at birth in exchange for ley lines to be set up for us. You would also like interior compartments in exchange for Veyrinite. 'One of each and eight passenger rooms, per two kilograms of Veyrinite.'" Aaki repeated. Then she closed her eyes and nodded her head on which her orange hair sat. "There is nothing stopping me from making this deal with you, Cinereal. I thank you for your time and patience in coming to this conclusion with me. If those are the prices for ley lines to be built and Veyrinite to be mined, the Commonwealth is willing to pay those prices."

 

[Primitive Polygon]

Aaki's Office

"This is agreeable. You have made the right choice." The faux-micro organism flexed a tendril, almost like a bizarre little bow. "We will send over a gate assembly fleet and our lead genetics representative in exactly one week. Please prepare us some factory space on Maekardan, and await the arrival."

"It has been an... Interesting talk, Iromakuanhe."

Then, as soon as it had appeared, the line cut out and Cinereal was gone. There was nothing but swirling static in the air now, and the pale medical professional's expression quickly changed from shock to silent annoyance.

Mitochondrion knew she'd been intentionally left out of the contract by that tactical retreat, but throwing a tantrum about it wasn't going to solve anything now... Linelayer, the wire guided leader who argued against this, was going to be angry, though. They just handed their political enemies a golden goose.

"▒I suppose that is it, then. Is there anything else you desire our assistance with?▒"