NationStates Jolt Archive

Results of Analysis of System 183974H "Kherñobal" - Data Analyst Aira arKiadt

Not to be distributed outside TESEC or agencies authorised by Division Commandant ralKeyra (Arkhora Seingult, NDA Council).

Survey Vessel(s):Treznorikh Vessel Medea, FTL Probe Craft N-018, Surveysats G-029 through G-036.

System Overview: System 18397, or "Kherñobal" as it has been named, was first entered by the Treznorikh craft Medea as part of the Treznorikh exploration drive. Upon forwarding of the preliminary survey to TESEC the N-018 was dispatched, carrying several Geb-class surveysats.

Kherñobal is a binary system, consisting of Kherñobal A, a red giant star, and Kherñobal B, a white dwarf star. There is one rocky planet, Kherñobal I (orbiting at a distance of 4.9AU), and a sizeable belt of protoplanetoids within the orbit of Kherñobal I.

Surveysats G-032 through G-036 entered orbit of Kherñobal I. The world is slightly larger in diameter than Earth, with a gravity of 1.52G. This is within human-bearable range, though it is on the upper limits. Antigravity plating may be necessary for any sustained habitation.

Kherñobal I has three moons, Alpha, Beta, and Gamma, all of which are captured asteroids similar to the moons Phobos and Deimos of Mars.

The atmosphere of Kherñobal I is a thick sulphur/carbon dioxide smog, in a greenhouse effect similar to that of Venus; there is evidence of heavy vulcanism at some time in the past.

Due to it's orbit around the Kherñobal binary pair, Kherñobal I is subjected to heavy solar radiation from Kherñobal B for roughly half it's year (49 Earth-years, similar to that of Jupiter).

Scans of the surface show that Kherñobal possesses significant deposits of easily retrievable heavy metals, if the heavy gravity and hostile atmosphere is taken out of the equation.

Exploitation of the asteroid belt, which also possesses such deposits, may be more easily achieved.

However, in general the expense, difficulty, and risk involved in reaching the Kherñobal system with the current FTL drive negate any benefits that might be gained from exploiting this system.

Summary of Article Three of the Report on Kymnari Technology - Data Analyst Sekhat tsaKiras

Not to be distributed outside TESEC or persons authorised by Division Commandant ralKeyra (Arkhora Seingult, Kymnari Studies Subcorps of the Xenoanthropology Corps, NDA Council).

Our knowledge of Kymnari FTL systems comes entirely from those documents printed by the Kymnari before the failure of the Battleship Kiija's computer net, some five hundred years ago, and in particular printouts discovered by the Archaeology Corps at the Kiija/Iron Citadel dig site in the Northern Wastes.

As the printouts were onto a form of plastic, environmental degradation was not an issue. Despite this, it has taken several years of work to decipher the printouts, even with the help of the Kymnari who survived the Obsidian Event. Reasons for this include the theological terms in which most Kymnari science seems to be described, the extreme jargonization of different branches of Kymnari society, linguistic drift over the six hundred years since the Godwar, and the sheer alien nature of the Kymnari mindset.

As such, this report is not to be considered definitive, and translations which may be incorrect have been marked with an asterix.

The Kymnari FTL system consists of fixed-position arivaika (transmitters*) and jiyaka (instigators*), which are found upon vessels (the Kiija possessed a jiyak, though the transmission of the ship into the Sol system apparently damaged it irreparably).

The arivaik was a "stargate", to use the popular term, linked somehow (possibly by some form of quantum entanglement, though this is highly uncertain) to every other arivaik. A ship entering the arivaik would turn on it's jiyak to activate the system (a process taking an hour or so), and be transmitted to it's destination at another arivaik. The transmission itself was apparently instantaneous, or very nearly so, and unlimited in range (so long as another arivaik existed to recieve the vessel).

For some reason, two arivaika could not operate while within one AU of each other; for this reason systems with two arivaika usually placed them at the L4 and L5 points of the Lagrange system of the sun and inhabited world.

There were two reasons for a system to possess dual arivaika. One, of course, was to reduce traffic bottlenecks; the other concerns the Kymnari method of expanding the arivaik network.

One way of expanding the network was by sending a construction vessel at sublight speeds to another system (the Kymnari histories tell us that this was done twice, before the alternative method was discovered). This obviously took decades to arrive, and if it had remained the sole method of expansion it is likely that the Kymnari empire would have been much smaller.

The other method was discovered some decades after the first extra-Kymnar arivaika were established; occasionally, a transmission would "go wrong" and the vessel being transmitted would vanish without trace. It was discovered that the missing ships were not in fact being destroyed but transmitted to some random point within several hundred lightyears (it was such an "error" transmission that deposited the Kiija in the Sol system, near the end of the Godwar).

Once this was understood, it could be harnessed to transmit a vessel anywhere within thirty lightyears (aside from the major reduction in range for a controlled "error" transmission, it also took about ten times as long for the transmitted ship's jiyak to initiate the transmission) with accuracy of an AU or so. By this method, the Kymnari could send construction vessels, or even prefabricated arivaika, to systems outside the network.

If the sending and receiving arivaika were as close as possible for an "error" transmission, the inaccuracy could be reduced further, and the Kymnari navy apparently used this method to send fleet craft to enemy worlds during the Godwar; thus the dual arivaika in place in fleet-restricted systems.

However, the TESEC has yet to discover any examples of this technology, though it has been suggested that an expedition to discover the location of the Kymnari systems be launched.

(OOC: I'm sure someone can figure out where I'm going with this ... :) )

Preliminary Results of Survey of System "Rykanir" - Captain-Commandant Sevyan tsaShan

Not to be distributed outside TESEC or persons authorised by Division Commandant ralKeyra (Arkhora Seingult, Kymnari Studies Subcorps of the Xenoanthropology Corps, NDA Council).

Survey Vessel(s): GATASV Kash'haiko Sukal, Surveysats G-005 through G-015.

System Overview: Rykanir was selected as the initial target for exploration under the Kymn Project as it is the one Kymnari system for which we possess absolutely accurate astronomical data, although with the system's location now confirmed we may extrapolate the positions of other Kymnari stars.

Rykanir itself is a fairly ordainary yellow dwarf, somewhat more orange than Sol, and due to this it appears to have been under the sway of the Noon Sun faction during the Godwar.

Though the records tell us that Rykanir I was a small, rocky world orbiting at 0.24AU, there is no sign of this world in the system. Undercommandant Sche'daya speculates that it may have been thrust into a retrograde orbit during the Godwar, plunging it into the sun, as Rykanir II appears to have been sterilised not by Kymnari hellformer weapons but a massive solar flare.

Rykanir II - Tankaris to the Kymnari - is a rocky world of 0.83G, orbiting at 1.12AU. The records also tell us that it once possessed a pair of large moons, but these are also missing; there are a pair of matching craters on the surface, and a small ring of what appears to be ejected debris. It appears that one faction or other in the Godwar was tossing planetoids about with more reckless abandon than the Eniqciri and more malevolence than the Dark Lord Morgoth.

The sterilisation of the surface appears to have destroyed all but a few species of unicellular microorganisms in the seas (which are reduced, apparently, from their former levels), and the impacts of the moons has frozen what remains. Rykanir II is currently uninhabitable, and likely to remain so for some time.

Surveysat G-005 was dispatched to the Rykanir/Tankaris L4 point, and discovered the Rykanir arivaik where the records said it should be, though somewhat the worse for wear; there was a battle fought for it during the Godwar, judging by the wrecked ships nearby. Analyses of the condition of these vessels await further human investigation.

Rykanir III is a gas giant without rings, orbiting at 3.76AU. Again, what moons it possessed appear to have been orbited into the planet itself; someone had a ready supply of asteroids, it appears.

The source of these asteroids is the Rykanir system asteroid belt, orbiting between 4.52 and 5.28 AU; it is composed of protoplanetary debris prevented from planetary formation by Rykanir III.

Here we found the most prominent remaining signs of Kymnari presence, in the form of extensive asteroid mines and shipyards, and many derelict vessels. It appears that the Noon Sun faction may even have survived the ravaging of the system here, though they did not survive until the present day. We may find other Kymnari survivors elsewhere in Kymnari space, if this is any indication.

External examination shows that some of these vessels may be salvageable; I request permission to send crew to investigate further.

~ Sevyan tsaShan
Captain-Commandant, Kash'haiko Sukal

Report on the Kymnari Space Facility in the Rykanir Asteroid Belt - Platoon Commandant Gzavi ralKiya, Kymnari Studies Subcorps (assigned to Kash'haiko Sukal)

Not to be distributed outside TESEC or persons authorised by Division Commandant ralKeyra (Arkhora Seingult, Kymnari Studies Subcorps of the Xenoanthropology Corps, NDA Council).

Like us, the Kymnari built their facility into a large asteroid - it would be silly to do otherwise, with such resources around! However, the Kymnari seem to have put a great deal of effort into making their facility look elegant - note that on the older sections there are very few straight lines, and even fewer sharp edges. On the newer sections this care for aesthetics is not apparent - these parts were constructed after the Godwar, and even look ramshackle.

From our investigations inside the facility, we estimate that the Kymnari population here survived some fifty or seventy-five years after the Godwar, at which point gradual equipment failure, coupled with an expanding population, caused the environmental systems to fail. Most of the dead we've found appear to have died of carbon dioxide poisoning.

Prior to the Godwar, the base was a shipyard, and possibly an administrative center for asteroid mining throughout the Belt. There are six complete hulls here, all of which show battle damage, and several more which have been integrated into the station. Our investigations have not yet reached the complete hulls.

Among the storerooms of the base we've found what appear to be stockpiled ship components - we've been unable to figure out what's what as yet, except for one group of what are clearly antimagnetic drives and another we believe may be jiyaka. This will be a bonanza for the Kymnari Studies Subcorps, if we can get it all home. The Captain-Commandant is expressing doubts about our storage capacity for all this.

Report on the Kymnari Vessel No.5 at the Rykanir Asteroid Belt Facility - Platoon Commandant Gzavi ralKiya, Kymnari Studies Subcorps (assigned to Kash'haiko Sukal)

Not to be distributed outside TESEC or persons authorised by Division Commandant ralKeyra (Arkhora Seingult, Kymnari Studies Subcorps of the Xenoanthropology Corps, NDA Council).

Vessel No.5 appears to have been a troop transport or passenger liner of some kind, and thus the closest to our requirements, as stated in the latest directive from High Stone. It seems to have had a crew of ten; clearly, Kymnari automation is better than our own.

Whether it was a military or civilian transport, it was quite definitely fired upon during the Godwar; there are substantial burn-throughs on the starboard side, though the Kymnari survivors apparently did their best to repair it following that - I believe that it was used as an in-system transport, as it is the best vessel of the six avaliable for such a purpose, and the jiyak has been removed, probably to save mass and allow better accelerations.

However, it has suffered some damage from micrometeorite impacts in the 550 years or so since it's last use, and will require a fairly thorough repair as part of the proposed refit. The spacers are attaching it to the Kash'haiko Sukal as I write, to bring it home to High Stone.

Preliminary Report on the Kymnari Arivaik in the Rykanir system - Captain-Commandant Retahn keiLaran

Not to be distributed outside TESEC or persons authorised by Division Commandant ralKeyra (Arkhora Seingult, Kymnari Studies Subcorps of the Xenoanthropology Corps, NDA Council).

Survey Vessel(s): GATASV Eridhinrako e Kfosi, Surveysat G-005

The arivaik at the Rykanir/Rykanir II L4 point is a ring of 160 seperate, though seemingly identical, pieces; accoding to the KSS people aboard, these are what create the "link" to other arivaika, in layman's terms.

The ring itself is 940 meters across, with what appears to be a maglev line around the outside. Repair crews would have ridden transports along this line to swap out defective segments (the fact that the segments appear to be modular means that we may be able to repair this arivaik if we are able to find others with the relevant segments undamaged, something the engineers are very excited about). There are twenty-two segments missing, presumably destroyed by weapons fire, and a further twelve which appear to be damaged.

At one point on the exterior of the ring is a habitat of medium size, the habitation of the maintenance crews who would keep the arivaik in operation. It was deserted when we investigated.

Further data shall be transmitted when we discover it, but it appears that at present the KSS people and the Applied Physics people are no closer to divining the workings of the arivaik than they were back in the Ascendancy. I remain hopeful, but it is becoming less likely that they shall do so.

Results of Analysis of TESEC Survey System #259 "Topaz" - Data Analyst Aira arKiadt

Survey Vessel(s): FTL Probe Craft N-006, GATASV Kash'haiko Sukal, Surveysats G-005 through G-015 and G-101 through G-106.

The Topaz system was discovered by the Nergal class FTL probe N-006, as part of the Sol-type Star Search project. When the Geb-class Surveysat G-103 detected free oxygen in the atmosphere of Topaz III, the GATASV Kash'haiko Sukal was dispatched to investigate further.

System Overview:

Topaz I: The position of Topaz I among the planets of the Topaz system was the cause of some debate among the crew of the Kash'haiko Sukal, as it occupies a cometary-type orbit which makes it, depending upon it's position, both the closest world in to the sun and the furtherest out. Topaz I's perhelion is at 0.21 AU, and it's year is roughly 2,518 E-years long.

There has also been debate about the classification of Topaz I as a planet; at 2,313km in diameter, it is smaller than some moons. Topaz I appears to be a captured extra-solar body.

This world does not appear to possess any usable resources.

Topaz II: Topaz II appears very similar to Mercury, and there is speculation that it arose in the same way - as the metallic core of a larger planet.

Perhelion is at 0.42 AU, and the planetary diameter is 5,238km. Like Mercury, it appears to be largely composed of iron; however, we possess sufficient quantities of this metal Earthside and in the Belt mines to preclude exploitation.

Topaz II has one moon (Topaz IIa), which has been identified as a captured carbonaceous asteroid.

Topaz III: Topaz III is the most interesting world of the Topaz system, as it is the first discovered by the TESEC to possess life. Aside from this (admittedly important) fact, Topaz II may well resemble Venus at an earlier stage.

Perhelion is at 0.78 AU, and the planetary diameter is 13,124km - larger than that of Earth. The planetary density is also higher, owing to a greater amount of heavy elements (which have in turn given rise to a very active tectonic system). Gravity is 1.82G, close to the upper limit of long-term habitability for humanity.

This heavier gravity has given rise to a thick, soupy atmosphere with a mean sea level pressure several times that of Earth's, enabling some quite large flying organisms to exist (Biological reports attached). Due to the many volcanoes, there is also a substantial amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, and thick vegetation.

Common tectonic activity means that the surface is only 50% ocean, scattered in twelve or thirteen small seas.

While Topaz III does not seem to be suited for resource extraction, it is perhaps deserving of a scientific outpost, to advance our xenobiological studies.

Topaz Belt: Between about 1.5 and 2.5 AUs out is a small asteroid belt, caused like Sol's by pertubations of the orbital space by a gas giant; it is similar in composition with the Solar belt, and possesses much the same resources for exploitation.

Topaz IV: This gas giant is similar to Jupiter or Saturn in nature, and is between them in size at 134,569km in diameter. It possesses both rings and moons, but little of value to an FTL-capable society.

Preliminary Results of Survey of System "Anyaetir" - Captain-Commandant Retahn keiLaran


Survey Vessel(s): GATASV Eridhinrako e Kfosi, Surveysats G-120 through G-125

System Overview:

The Anyaetir system was located via matching the recovered Kymnari starmaps with the located Rykanir system, and the Eridhinrako e Kfosi was assigned to investigate

Anyaetir I: The records state that this world was a moderately habitable planet, terraformed by the Blood Sun faction before the Godwar. It possesses a very high gravity (2.1G) but surface features or lack thereof indicate intensive "hellforming" during the Godwar - no life survives. We were unable to investigate closely, as some form of von Neumann device destroyed Surveysat G-122 in the planetary rings.

Anyaetir II: Orbiting at 1.2AU, Anyaetir II has a gravity of 0.92G, and is somewhat colder than Earth average. Low levels of heavy metals mean that there has been very little tectonic activity, and 96% of the surface is ocean (the remaining 4% has been heavily hellformed, presumably during the Godwar). The vast oceans create very large waves, at times travelling entirely around the planet.

Though the water blocked irradiation in the oceans, we were unable to locate any subaquatic Kymnari facilities.

Anyaetir II possesses three small moons, all of which have been hellformed, which give rise to complex tidal effects.

Anyaetir/Anyaetir II L4 Point Arivaik:

Surveysat G-120 was dispatched to the L4 point to investigate the Arivaik located there. As with the Rykanir system, this Arivaik was the site of a fierce battle, during which a Kymnari vessel apparently turned it's hellformer on the Arivaik itself. Only twenty-seven of the one hundred and sixty segments remain intact - but fifteen of the undamaged segments match the damaged ones on the Rykanir gate. The engineers report that exchanging the segments is highly possible.

The wrecks of three ships were found here, apparently having been between the hellformer-equipped vessel and the Arivaik when the agressor irradiated them. All three appear to be damaged beyond hope of repair.

Anyaetir/Anyaetir II L5 Point Arivaik:

As Anyaetir was a Night Sun faction factory system during the Godwar, it possessed two Arivaika. Surveysat G-121 was dispatched to the L5 point gate, where it reported that the gate was entirely intact! No vessels were discovered nearby - it may be that they escaped through the gate after the battle in this system ended.

Anyaetir III:

Orbiting at 2.42AUs, Anyaetir III is a heavy-gravity world (1.56G) with a thick atmosphere primarily of ammonia and methane, similar to pre-Terraforming Titan. The records state that this was the center of Night Sun faction manufacturing in the Anyaetir system, as it possessed large amounts of fissile ores. The shipyards in orbit had been attacked with von Neumann robots during the Godwar, and were little more than balls of clustered machines. Given the fate of Surveysat G-0122, the Eridhinrako e Kfosi stayed well clear of these orbits.

The surface, too, appeared to have been seeded with von Neumanns. It is a very potent reminder of the dangers of such machines, which are utilised by many nations, such as the Eniqciri, in our own system. We must avoid a similar fate.

Kuiper Belt:

Outside the orbit of Anyaetir III, we found nothing until we reached the system's Kuiper belt, where a weak radio signal was detected. On a comet-type body orbiting at 52AUs we discovered a small research station of some kind, but it too appeared to have been hellformed. The Kymnari were certainly very intent on wiping out every last one of their enemies - in two systems, we have yet to locate any surviving members of the species.

Preliminary Results of Survey of System "Siassanir" - Data Analyst Aira arKiadt

Survey Vessel(s): FTL Probe N-018, Surveysats G-029 through G-036

Siassanir has so far been surveyed only briefly by a remotely-operated Nergal-class FTL probe. Further exploration by humans on site is recommended.

System Overview:

The Siassanir star is an orange dwarf star with no native planets, apparently the result of a deficiency in metals. It does however possess one captured world, apparently an extrasolar wanderer caught by the solar gravity.

Siassanir I: It has been speculated that this world is in fact the metallic core of a former gas giant, as a very large percentage of it's mass appears to be iron and other common metals.

Like Topaz I, it occupies a highly eccentric orbit, with perhelion at 0.76AU and aphelion at 32.2AU, creating extreme seasonal temperature changes over it's 1,834-(Earth)year orbit.

Planetary diameter is 6,782 kilometers, and gravity is 1.4G. Siassanir I possesses no natural satellites.

During the Godwar, this system was apparently under the sway of the Blood Sun faction, who mantained (mostly automated) mines here. While the planet was not hellformed, it appears that the Kymnari population lacked the resources to mantain their habitats following the destruction of the Arivaik.

As the eccentric orbit of Siassanir I means that the distance between it's Lagrange points and the planet shifts constantly, the system's Arivaik was placed in orbit around the planet itself.

There are four spacecraft in orbit, and five more wrecks where more craft have apparently fallen from orbit over the six hundred years since the Godwar. These five are beyond repair and of no use to us at present.

The four vessels are;

- One superdreadnought, apparently of the Night Sun faction. It appears to have suffered a reactor overload - most of the stern is missing. Fortunately, the Kymnari did not group their antimagnetic cores at one end of their vessels, and the remainder of the craft was able to mantain orbit. However, I believe this vessel to be unsalvageable.

- One cruiser, also apparently of the Night Sun. This vessel is almost certainly salvageable - it appears to have been disabled by a lucky strike at the command centre of the vessel.

- Another cruiser of the Night Sun, somewhat differently constructed; it may be of a different class, age, or manufacturer. There is very little left of this craft, as it has been substantially gutted by coherent-radiation weaponry.

- A battleship of the Blood Sun faction. This vessel appears to have been targeted with a hellformer, likely that of the Night Sun superdreadnought; it is almost entirely "melted", and has a high radiation reading.

Given the lack of Blood Sun vessels still in orbit, I hypothesise that their vessels were in lower orbits, and are the vessels which have since suffered orbital decay and fallen to the surface.

Siassanir System Arivaik: This Arivaik, in a stable orbit of Siassanir I, has suffered damage to only two of it's one hundred and sixty segments. It is important to note that while we may hop between systems easily with the Treznorikh FTL system, the Kymnari could not, and where they could not manufacture replacements for the damaged segments, must wait for a repair craft to bring replacements - or an entirely new Arivaik - to the system from without - which has not happened, in the case of Siassanir.

With the discovery of the Siassanir Arivaik, we now have the ability to reconstruct a pair of Arivaika. If everything goes according to plan, we may soon have the ability to cross millions of light-years in the blink of an eye, by positioning the gates with the Treznorikh system. Engineering may prove otherwise, but we should remain hopeful.

Results of Gate System Test #4 - Captain-Commandant Retahn keiLaran

Involved Vessel(s): GATASCV Eridhinrako y Kfosi, Experimental Test Platform T-025

I am pleased to report this fourth test of the Siassanir/Anyaetir gate system a complete success. Interfacing with the Kymnari command computers in the gate structures prevented the "error jump" encountered in Test #3, and the jiyak aboard T-025 appears to now be running within parameters, which had previously necessitated the cancellation of Test #3b.

The crew in the can-habitat at the Anyaetir gate reported a successful transmission over the q-link shortly after transmission through the gate, and successfully returned T-025 through the gate in the opposite direction.

Our next test must surely be to send a manned vessel through the gate; I have assessed the two spaceplanes aboard the Kfosi for their suitability, and conclude that An-128 is in best condition for such a test.

Results of Analysis of TESEC Survey System #267 "Sahel" - Data Analyst Aira arKiadt

Survey Vessel(s): GATASCV Kash'haiko Sukal, Surveysats G-101 through G-106.

Initial data on System #267 was supplied by the Treznorikh extrasolar program, and while they deemed it unworthy of further attention, the TESEC dispatched the Kash'haiko Sukal to investigate further.

System Overview:

Sahel A is a G2-type star with a mass 105% that of Sol and a luminosity of 135% that of Sol.

Sahel B is a K5-type star with a mass of 89% that of Sol and a luminosity 50% that of Sol.

Taken as a pair, the Sahel system binary stars are very similar to Alpha Centauri - it is possible there may be some stellar probability causing these binary pairs to be common, or it may be simply random chance, given the distances between the Sahel system and the Alpha Centauri system.

Sahel B Asteroid Belt I is a chaotic cluster of large asteroids orbiting Sahel B at 0.34 AU, formed by the collision of two larger planetoids around three million years ago. This collision, as we shall see, has affected many of the worlds further out.

Sahel B II is a rocky, Mercurial world orbiting at 0.73 AU, with a diameter of 4,329km. Unlike Mercury, however, it appears to be primarily silicate in composition as opposed to ferrous, and possesses little of worth. It appears to have suffered major asteroid bombardment following the Belt I collision event.

Sahel A I seems to be the world which earned the system it's name from the Treznorikh survey team. It is very much like Earth, and in particular portions of North Africa, as it possesses narrow fertile strips along the coasts, with substantial interior deserts.

Orbiting Sahel A at 1.22AU, Sahel A I recieves more daily sunlight than Earth, which has contributed to it's climate. Physically, Sahel A I is very similar to Earth, with a gravity of 1.07 and a diameter of 6513km.

However, the planet has an ocean coverage of only 45% of the planetary surface, most of the water being locked away in extensive polar caps - it appears that Sahel A I is at the receeding end of a three-million-year ice age caused by asteroid bombardment, which has caused a lowering of the sea level and a substantial desertification of the continents.

Despite this, Sahel A I does possess Earthlike flora and fauna - the biological department has hereby requested official permission to send a team down - and it would appear from orbit to be fully habitable by humans with little effort.

Sahel A Ib is the single moon of Sahel A I, roughly comparable to Earth's Moon in size and mass, although orbiting a little further in, and not tidally locked; despite this, most of the seas of Sahel A I are too small to experience significant tidal effects.

Sahel A II is a gas giant orbiting at 3.52 AU, with a diameter of 105,025km, somewhat similar to Saturn but lacking in rings. It has twenty-three small moons, none of which display anything of interest.

Sahel AB Belt II is a more normal asteroid belt orbiting between 5.4 and 6.2 AUs around both stars, composed primarily of iron, iridium, and other elements commonly found in asteroids in the Sol system, plus a substantial minority of uranium.

Results of Gate System Test #5 - Captain-Commandant Retahn keiLaran

Involved Vessel(s): GATASCV Eridhinrako y Kfosi, Anubis spaceplane An-128

This fifth test of the arivaika has gone very well - Pilot ralJaigh, with a jiyak installed aboard An-128, has now completed two successful manned transits of the gates, to Siassanir and back, with no difficulties. We will shortly begin installing a jiyak aboard the 'Kfosi, to test the jump with this larger vessel.

Results of Analysis of TESEC Survey System #269 "Cloud" - Data Analyst Aira arKiadt

Survey Vessel(s): GATASCV Kash'haiko Sukal, Surveysats G-101 through G-106.

Some ten light-years or so from System #267 "Sahel", System #269 was located by analysis of the stars nearby to Sahel, and deemed interesting enough to be included in the list of destinations of the Search for Sunlike Stars project. Being in the area, Kash'haiko Sukal was dispatched to investigate.

System Overview:

The Cloud system's star, #269, is a G2-type star around fifty percent more luminous than Sol - similar to Alpha Centauri A or Sahel A. While it may have showed signs of being inhabited by "suncritters" - the plasma-beings inhabiting our own star - this was not investigated.

Cloud I is one of those Mercurial worlds of little use to a spacefaring civilisation; orbiting at 0.52 AU with a diameter of 2,829km, it possesses little of value.

Cloud II is, at first appearance, a Venusian world, orbiting at 1.22 AU and with a diameter of 6219km; surface gravity is extrapolated as 0.93G.

While Cloud II is covered by impenetrable clouds - hence the name - to an altitude of several hundred kilometers, some tectonic process has uplifted sections of the planet's crust a hundred kilometers or so above that, creating "islands in the sky" that seem quite habitable - air pressure is around 0.7 Bar, and temperatures observed ranged from 10 to 16 degrees Centigrade - and, indeed, life was observed on these "islands" - although they do not appear to have evolved backbones, and are thus quite small, they seem quite complex, much like Earth insects. The biology team of the Kash'haiko Sukal, speaking remotely from Sahel A I, has filed a request to investigate further.

Covering 18% of Cloud II's surface, the cloud islands may be viable colony sites.

Cloud III is a Mars-like world of low gravity (0.51G) orbiting at 3.29 AU, with a diameter of 5,390km. With a very low atmospheric pressure (0.19 Bar), freezing temperatures, and an atmosphere composed primarily of carbon dioxide, Cloud III seems quite similar to pre-terraforming Mars. It is rent by many large interlocking canyon systems, reaching down several dozen kilometers into the planet.

Substantial automated terraforming might be able to make these canyons habitable, given time. Instead of "islands in the sky", like Cloud II, Cloud III would have "islands in the deep".

Results of Analysis of TESEC Survey System #270 "Xanadu" - Data Analyst Aira arKiadt

Survey Vessel(s): GATASCV Kash'haiko Sukal, Surveysats G-101 through G-106

Another star marked under the Search for Sunlike Stars program, System #270 is twenty-five lightyears from System #267 "Sahel". The Kash'haiko Sukal was assigned to investigate further, and discovered sentient life upon Xanadu II. Further information appended.

System Overview:

Star #270 is interesting only in it's extreme similarity with Sol; while this may hypothetically have something to do with the rise of sentient life in this system, it is otherwise mundane.

There may be some rule of stellar formation that tends to place ferrous, Mercurial worlds in the first-planet position; like Cloud I, Xanadu I is a Mercurial world, 2,259km in diameter and orbiting at 0.63 AU.

Xanadu II, which is covered in greater detail below, is a highly Earthlike world of 5,878km diameter, orbiting at 0.95 AU. Gravity is 0.89G.

74% of Xanadu II's surface is ocean; judging from the coastal geographical formations visible from orbit, it underwent a rapid rise in sea level several thousand years ago. There are three major continents, four large islands, and a myriad of smaller islands.

24% of the remaining land area is high arid plateaus, apparently created by tectonic upthrust in a process similar to that of the "sky islands" of Cloud II, with the highest averaging five kilometers above sea level.

Flat continental areas seem to be largely swamplands in the temperate regions and jungles in the tropics, likely created from former plains by increased rainfall about the time of the global warming event.

The ruins of many large cities were visible from orbit, although few appear to be occupied; most of them sport slightly higher background radiation levels, and in the majority of the unoccupied ones the Kash'haiko Sukal located black, nonreflective "ziggurats". It is unknown what purpose these buildings served.

Xanadu II A is a small moonlet, obviously a captured asteroid, travelling in a low, retrograde orbit. A number of automated probes, and several of what appear to be flags, were discovered upon it, as well as a larger installation under a collapsed bubble-dome.

Xanadu II B is a Luna-like moon, 1,920km in diameter. A similar assortment of automated probes were discovered on it's surface, as well as the entrance to what may be a substantial moonbase.

The Xanadu Asteroid Belt is a fairly standard asteroid belt, orbiting between 1.67 and 3.12 AU. There are no easily noticeable artificial artefacts, although such would be difficult to find in such a dispersed environment.

Xanadu III is a vaguely Mars-like world orbiting at 4.55 AU, with a diameter of 3,568km. The atmosphere and ice-caps appear to be primarily carbon dioxide ice.

Xanadu IV is a ringed gas giant of 124,932km diameter, orbiting at 7.69 AU, with fifteen moons.

Xanadu V is an unringed gas giant of 89,454km diameter, orbiting at 8.21 AU, with twenty-four moons. Neither gas giant appears to possess anything of value.

Captain's Supplemental Report Upon Xanadu II - Captain-Commandant Sevyan tsaShan

As I have stated in the standard report for system overview, Xanadu II is a hot, wet world, with somewhat more ocean coverage than Earth. While there are two major oceans, one of which covers most of the Western hemisphere, the majority of the open water coverage is in many small seas and large lakes. The ice caps are very small.

This makes most of the planet quite wet and rainy, save for the high plateaus that form a quarter of the land area. The only comparison I can think of on Earth would be the Tibetan plateau.

The native life is in a post-apocalyptic state following what appears to be a fairly standard megascale nuclear war; while these are reasonably common on Earth, the strange nature of spacetime around our homeworld protects us from stray fallout, and the Xanaduikh seem to have had no such protection. Dating of the radioactives, as best we can from orbit, gives a date of around three thousand years ago for this event, quite close to the geographical dating of the sea level rise. It is probable that the Xanaduikh caused the sea level to rise by the industrial production of greenhouse gasses.

Aerial camera-drones have given us high-resolution distance footage of the Xanadu sentients (remaining, of course, beyond standard unaided-eye detection; we do not know what the results of an unintended first contact may be). There appear to be several different breeds of the species, created either by geneering or natural speciation (or possibly both).

All observed breeds are bipedal, and vaguely resemble kangaroos; they can walk bipedally in a similar fashion to humans, or run ostrich-like with their bodies slung forward and tails outstretched for balance. The tail also serves as a balance when standing. All observed breeds have a prominent crest of hair running down their backs, and are covered in short fur, almost more akin to human body hair than the fur of an animal.

Biologically, they appear to be closely analagous to Earth mammals.

The most numerous breed of "kangaroos" is around 150cm high at the shoulder when standing; we observed no obvious sexual dimorphism. They range in colour from predominantly golden-brown in the Southern hemisphere to a more golden-red in the Northern hemisphere, and a group isolated on a large island (roughly the size of England, plus various archipelagos) in the Western hemisphere ocean possesses fur of a maroon shade.

This breed ranges from stone age (in the case of the island-dwellers) to iron or steel age (in the case of the rest). There is no evidence of any industrial processes or technology, although they seem to readily pillage certain cities for stone and metals (although not all cities - see below).

In the arid plateaus another breed is evident, obviously adapted to the conditions. They possess a deeper chest, indicating larger lungs, and their body-fur is thicker; it is a greyish-blue in colour. This breed appears to have been reduced to stone-age nomadism.

We observed two instances of rarer breeds. One, at a sailing-ship dock in the Southern hemisphere, was a larger, more gracile individual with a distended belly. Although there has been speculation that this is a foreigner from some other land, we were unable to locate such a population of this breed, and thus I hypothesise that it is some kind of mutant - such would be common, in the radioactive aftermath of nuclear war.

In the far Northern hemisphere, we observed a second anomalous breed, a pack of white-furred "kangaroos" hunting a group of fleeing "normals"; aside from the difference in the colour of their fur (which we must be careful not to count as a substantial difference - it is not in humanity), they possessed greater musculature (showing the ability to leap great distances), and lacked the "crests" common to the other breeds. They also sported what appear to be retractile claws on hands and feet, and may be some form of geneered supersoldiers gone feral. They were observed to use bolas and spears, but the general state of their technology is unknown.

While a few pre-war cities are occupied (despite higher background radiation), around two thirds are not, and the natives appear to avoid even the sight of them, staying several dozen kilometers away. These "zones of avoidance" seem centered on large black ziggurats, and have a radius of up to several hundred kilometers from the ziggurat (based, seemingly, upon the size of the ziggurat); it is possible they emit some kind of electromagnetic radiation which the natives avoid. There are also ziggurats without cities, which sport similar "zones of avoidance".

The ziggurats are faced with some kind of black substance which absorbs almost all electromagnetic radiation, and appear to be automated; we observed one ziggurat in the Southern hemisphere being enlarged by many hundreds of small robots, and another in the North-East which seemed "ill", with it's walls sloping at crazy angles and gaps showing between the black slabs which cover the exterior of the ziggurats.

I believe this world to be of great scientific importance to the Ascendancy, and I must pass on the requests of the majority of my scientific crew - xenoanthropologists, xenobiologists, xenobotanists, and xenoarchaeologists primarily - to descend to the surface to study, or for a closer examination of the facilities on the moons.

Commentary on the Exploration of the Xanadu IIb Facility - Researcher Gurane keiSarinat

The landing pad of the Xanaduikh moonbase is pretty standard - graded regolith with lines painted on it. The paint hasn't faded, with no erosion bar micrometeorites.

On the landing pad are three spacecraft. Two are fairly simple rocket-craft; cylinders with spindly landing legs and nozzles at the bottom. They look like payload modules from multi-stage rockets, like the old Russian Soyuzes or American Apollos. When we cut into one - we were unable to open the hatch - we found that it was, apparently, an unmanned craft, probably a supply freighter. It is empty now, and unpressurised; although there are several micrometeorite holes punched through the hull, it seems to have been designed as an unpressurised freighter, supporting the hypothesis that it was unmanned.

The third spacecraft is much more advanced. In form it is clearly a spaceplane capable of atmospheric reentry, covered in white cladding which reflects almost perfectly throughout the electromagnetic spectrum; this is apparently a twin to the energy-absorbing black cladding of the ziggurats on the surface.

That cladding is also visible here, in the form of a set of retractile energy-absorbent panels, extended to gather energy from the Solar radiation. Xanaduikh radiation, rather. Upon entering this craft, we discovered that the panels are still gathering energy - there is still current in the wires - although the batteries which stored it have decayed. It is truly a marvelous material, and one which seems quite beyond the technical capacity of a race just venturing into space, as the Xanaduikh were when they had their nuclear war.

The rest of the spaceplane supports this statement; it is, generally, of a much lower technology. The propulsion system consists of simple nuclear thermal rockets (apparently it was launched on the side of a conventional-fuel rocket, much like the Russian Buran-class once was, for environmental reasons). While it is well-designed for it's technology level, it does not have a generally high technology level, aside from the cladding and panels.

I wonder if some alien explorer would say something similar, coming across the 'Sukal with it's mix of foreign technologies. Some of the others are already speculating about alien contacts, and it's hard to deny that they have some weight to their arguments.

Although technologically the spaceplane raises more questions than it answers, it does offer some important cultural clues; iconography, and many examples of two alphabets. One of the junior assistants even found, beneath a bunk (and there are two bunk-rooms, segregated by gender or possibly by nationality - those two alphabets again) - found what appears to be a pornographic magazine. It fell apart in his hands, of course - shoddy techniques, what are they teaching them in Nova Reio these days? - but it would appear that these aliens were much closer psychologically to us than the Kymnari or the Invaders, despite the more humanoid appearance of those species.

All by itself the spaceplane offers a lot of work, but there's also a whole moonbase to explore! The entrance to this is a simple revolving-cylinder airlock, which had jammed, so we had to cut our way through under a temporary seal.

The corridors are much too low for us, at a uniform one point eight meters, but they would have been thirty centimeters or so above the heads of the "normal" breed of Xanaduikh. Again, the technology we found seems fairly standard for an early space-age civilisation, and shows quite a bit of parallel evolution with Human civilisations of this technology level.

Their computing systems seem at once primitive and advanced. While they're very well minaturised, the things use vacuum tubes - cooled by more of that black radiation-absorbent cladding. Furthermore, they don't have screens as such, just little clusters of unidentifiable lenses and lasers and whatnot - it's been hypothesised that this may be some kind of "hologram projector" as one sees in the science-fiction vids. I think the Hack has something like that, I must remember to ask...

We found what remained of the base staff in what must have been their common room; it's the largest chamber in the facility, apart from some of the storerooms, and appointed for that function with tables, chairs, and even what look like armchairs for the Xanaduikh! (With their technology level, it must have been horribly expensive to equip this facility from the ground, but there are signs that a lot of equipment may have been manufactured in situ somehow).

The Xanaduikh, or rather their mummified remains, are seated around the room, dressed in odd single-piece suits (but then I suppose they'd think our clothing odd). Some of the others are doing a hypothetical reconstruction of their hierarchy, based upon the rank tabs on their sleeves. They don't seem to have approached death with any particular fear; they look quite peaceful, actually. I hypothesise some kind of mass suicide, probably after the nuclear war.

There's one further find I'd like to mention; a series of hexagonal vats in one of the engineering shops. In their general construction and design these seem quite different to the general Xanaduikh equipment, and they seem to be nano-constructor units. More high-technology, and quite dangerous high-technology at that.

Results of Analysis of TESEC Survey System #271 "Tenebris" - Data Analyst Aira arKiadt

Survey Vessel(s): TSCV Kash'haiko Sukal, Surveysats G-101 through G-106.

System #271 was discovered through analysis of Treznorikh exploration reports, and is one of those worlds very close to, but not quite, reaching the Treznorikh ideal. It was deemed important enough to dispatch the Kash'haiko Sukal from it's explorations in the Xanadu system immediately.

System Overview:

The star Tenebris is redder and cooler than Sol, and the zone of habitable planets is therefore reduced.

This means that it's only habitable world is also it's first one; Tenebris I is eminently habitable, with a surface gravity of 0.97G and an equatorial diameter of 6,149km, although it orbits at only 0.66 AU.

Mean atmospheric pressure at sea level is similar to Earth's, as was the observed temperature ranges; it is worth noting that Tenebris I's orbit is very nearly circular, so there should be very little seasonal variation.

Sixty percent of the surface is open water, distributed in two large oceans and several smaller seas, with substantial icecaps. Tenebris I's large moon creates tidal effects substantially larger than those of Earth.

Biologically, the ecosphere of Tenebris I is quite advanced, sporting very tall trees with rudimentary circulatory systems, and a collection of alien megafauna roughly comparable to that of the Earth's <inserttimehere> period.

Tenebris Ia is the only moon of Tenebris I, and at 4,120km in diameter is considerably more massive than Earth's moon, resulting in comparably larger tidal effects. It is tidally locked.

Tenebris II orbits the star at 0.91 AU, with a surface gravity of 1.12G and an equatorial diameter of 17,192km. 42% of the surface is ocean, populated by simple cyanobacteria which have recently (in an evolutionary timescale) begun production of oxygen as a poison; current atmospheric oxygen levels are at twelve percent. Tenebris II will not reach habitability, unaided by concious terraforming effort, within the next few million years.

It possesses three moons, Tenebris IIa, IIb and IIc, all of which are captured asteroids of no great value.

The Tenebris Asteroid Belt is a fairly standard asteroid belt, composed primarily of ferrous and carbonaceous chrondrite asteroids, orbiting between 3.82 and 5.21 AU.

Commentary Upon the Tenebris Project - Captain-Commandant Retahn keiLaran

We dropped the robots today, and the crew is happy - we have spent the last week surveying Tenebris Prime from orbit and on the ground, after all, doing follow-up work for tsaShan and the 'Sukal. The robots need decent ore lodes located, and transponder-roads set up between them for the automated cargo trucks, and sites surveyed for the automated factories. For automated industry it really needs a great deal of human attention - although the technology itself is old enough, this lot differs only in the level of automation (it's expected to work without human supervision, after all).

The mining robots will set up their mines and take the ore to the refineries which will take it to the factories which will make the next set of robots ... robots building robots, all setting up a complete industrial base in minature. It's a good thing they're not AI, or the colonists might not find a welcome mat when they arrive! (I'm sure we can avoid a spontaneous thing like the Hacker's Mercury project).

All told, that's a lot of robots, but they're all down now and beginning to trundle about happily as they are supposed to. We're stuck in orbit here for some time, in case of problems, but that doesn't matter so much - in between waiting we can relax and enjoy the scenery, name the landforms (someone has to do it, and if it's left to a burecrat we'll get hundreds of "glorious ascendant mountains"...). Fun - barring something going wrong, such as the Robots becoming emancipated and trying to shoot us from orbit. I'm still not entirely sure about the whole robot thing.

Automated Mining Facility #5, Blue Mountains, Continent #2 "Elysium", Tenebris I, System #271 "Tenebris"

"So what went wrong here?"

That something had gone wrong was immediately obvious - the three-mining-robot pileup at the entrance to the mine was easy to spot.

"Programming error. It's always programming error, Zvee. The robots are smart enough to handle anything, except when their programming stuffs up."

Which happened all too often, it seemed; Mine #8 and Parts Factory #12 had both malfunctioned in the past month. Still, with not much in the way of human oversight, and programming which was a long way from AI, one got problems, and one had to fix them.

Which was why Erakh keiYvhana and Zvedai "Zvee" arTain had been sent down from the 'Kfosi in orbit. Troubleshooting for machines was a boring job, but it had to be done.

"Here we are. Glitch in the sensors processing on cart four said it should turn when it shouldn't. A reboot would fix it, if it was fixable."

Instead, they'd have to wait for the overtaxed Parts Factories and Assembly Units to fabricate another three carts, and then for those to trundle across the Western seaboard from the Assembly Unit, along the roads scarred into the plains and hills up to the mine. Then and only then would they get to go back up to orbit, so they were stuck downside for a couple of weeks at best.

It wasn't too onerous; you could go for walks in the hills, and the wildlife were completely fearless of humanity. Or you could name the local geography; the areas around most of the robotic facilities were named in minute detail, thanks to past troubleshooting teams. Command, whenever they issued an atlas of Tenebris, might not keep the names, but then again ...

Sol System, Somewhere Above the Ecliptic

After three weeks in the space outside reality, the Kash'haiko Sukal returned to realspace far from the distant light of Sol. Not so far at all, relative to the interstellar distances it had just traversed; but far enough that it'd be a day or two before the research ship reached Far Stone.

Not yet the regular stopover at High Stone above Earth. The 'Sukal carried on long spars the great ring of a Kymnari arivaik, taken from the Siassanir system of the long-dead Kymnari empire. The gate could not realistically be put anywhere but Far Stone; Jupiter had FTL-denial systems in place, Mars was too chaotic, and Earth too crowded. Far Stone was decently out of the way, and the presence of the gate there would serve as a boost for the expansion of the facilities there.

OOC: Ack. That was better written in my head.

System #271 "Tenebris", Outer System - Around seven weeks later

"Well, here we are again." Sevyan tsaShan was always relieved to see the grey of that other place become the normal star-flecked black of space. As usual, there were a few who had to be sedated throughout the journey; that had become standard practice now, as had the chore of cruising in from wherever the Treznorikh drive deposited them.

The Treznorikh themselves apparently didn't suffer the same degree of error in their translations from that other place to reality; they had Zero-One EI to assist them, after all. The Tsarainese, with nothing but a good deal of brute computing power, had less luck.

But the period of cruising from where the Kash'haiko Sukal was deposited to where it was meant to be was welcomed by the crew; it was a chance to open up the q-links and get in touch with Earth again after weeks of isolation, to hook into the SuperPlexus network and visit distant friends and loved ones.

Sevyan, who had few friends and did not account his family among them, remained on the bridge during this time, keeping an eye on the proper running of the ship. Like the last trip from Siassanir to Earth, on this trip from Anyaetir to Tenebris the 'Sukal also carried a Kymnari arivaik, taken from Anyaetir, and also the can-habitat, a modified drone freighter, set up to monitor it during testing.

The xenoarchaeoengineers transferred from the Eridhinrako y Kfosi to that canhab would soon be rejoining the rest of their crew; the 'Kfosi had been in the Tenebris system for some time now, and would remain there for some short while longer, until the gate the 'Sukal carried was set up. The canhab would remain attached to the gate as temporary traffic control and planet-monitoring station, until a suitable asteroid could be taken from this system's belt.

Far Stone, the Belt, Sol System

Compared to weeks spent outside the universe, going through the gate seemed anticlimatic. One moment the 'Kfosi was in orbit of Tenebris, with the gate ahead, and the next it was in Sol's asteroid belt, with the gate behind, and not even a flicker to tell Retahn keiLaran that it had happened; but suddenly, there they were.

The bridge crew were cheering their return home after too long outsystem. Now was the time to go to Earth, to see friends and family again. Others would continue the monitoring of Tenebris and the robots there, now that the gate was set up.

OOC: Argh. I expected that to come out better too. What is it about Far Stone?

SuperPlexus

"So, Astyach. How goes the construction?"

Although seperated by more distance than made any sense to either of them (Sol and Tenebris were in different supergalactic clusters!), Tanyi ralKeyra and Astyach Sche'daya sat in a pleasant Devras café, talking over tea.

However, given that this was work and not play, they talked of important things; to wit, the progress of the robot factories in Elysium on Tenebris.

"Well enough, Arkhreifane," the administrator replied. "The first tube modules started coming out of the kilns recently. What those robots can build from scratch is quite astounding."

The robot factories had their limits - they could produce only what they were programmed to do, and only what lay within their design limitations - but within those limits, the tube modules could be produced at an astounding rate.

The tubes, simple hollow cylinders of space-grade ceramics ten meters long and six across, were produced by the hundreds in the robot factories along Elysium's North-Western coast. Then further robots would lay wiring, plumbing, flooring, carpeting - a whole range of "ings" - until the tube module was a self-contained little building, ready for conversion into a home, or a supply store, or almost anything that could be fit in ninety square meters of space.

Most of that was in the future - as Astyach said, the first tubes had only now come out of the factories - but the future was bright.

"Yes, it is," Tanyi agreed. "I only wish they'd apply the same effort to my ship wish-list!"

"Speaking of wishes ... what's the timeframe on that rock up in Tenebris orbit? We need better throughput speed, and better orbital facilities." And we need them yesterday, alas, as with everything.

The Arkhreifane shrugged. "The rock-catcher ship has been finished for some time," she replied. "But it's currently tied up in paperwork - the NDA is currently wavering over whether or not they want their space elevator, which means whether or not it's needed to fetch a rock for that, but we can't commit it to fetching one for Tenebris until we know that it won't be messing with Alliance schedules. Sucks, huh?"

Astyach nodded. It did indeed suck.

"And - it's entirely idle speculation, you understand, but do you have any idea of who's going to be Markhreif Tenebris, when people start arriving?"

"I hear tell it'll be arTaelkh, actually."

"What, Errekeradh arTaelkh? I thought he was at Io?"

"He is, but the poor man is apparently much too civilised to deal with Burning Mountain posthumans and Imperium Warlords and snooty elves. I hear tell - and bear in mind that this is all rumor - that he'll go to Tenebris, and Senekhal arViradt will go to Io from Kel Arikhant on Mars."

"Oh? I had heard she went mad or something?"

"Those Martians are enough to drive anybody mad, but they're already mad on Io, so she ought to fit right in, no? Arikhant will get some paper-pusher, which is all it needs now that the Tekhat has it's three Markhreifi, and everyone will be happy."

"Ha! If everyone was happy, it wouldn't be Tsaraine."

"It wouldn't be humanity, Astyach. Someone's going to be upset, whatever happens."

SuperPlexus

"Report, ralKuerich. What have you found?"

Ktreden ralKuerich sat on a rock overlooking the cliffs of the Southern coast of the Sea of Storms, and tried desperately to relax.

"Well, Arkhreifane, uh ... not a lot, actually. The ArPeans are now selling their Busu cargo pods individually, which would be quite fitting ... except that they won't fit through the Gate."

"Rather an overkill, then? Anything else?"

"Well, the Federated Segments sell a Centipede-class cargo hauler, basically an engine for towing about cargo containers, but it's not the sort of ship we're looking for. The Menelmacari Vingilot is really more of a bloated luxury liner than a colony ship, and the elves charge abhorrent prices.

"The best option is possibly the Dominion's Roc-class freighter, although at three hundred meters long it may be verging on the small side of "oversized" ...

"I'll keep looking, Arkhreifane."

"That's what I pay you for, Analyst. See if you can find anything better, and cheaper, than we could build ourselves."

Asteroid HJ-7765, The Belt

"Detonate."

Several dozen kilometers distant, one side of the carbonaceous chrondrite asteroid disappeared in a burst of hard radiation as the small fusion charge planted there several hours ago stopped it's spin.

"Detonation complete, Captain-Commandant."

Tarant ralMarain smiled. He'd done this once before, years ago, in the very same Horus-class freighter that now formed the body of the asteroid-catcher spacecraft Rock On.

"Close to grappling range."

That was very close indeed, a fact necessitated by the asteroid's composition. A nickel-iron asteroid like High Stone or Far Stone could be captured by magnetic grapples, but a carbonaceous chrondrite, being non-magnetic, could not. Thus the apparatus replacing the bow cargo bay and giving Rock On the appearance of a blockier, metallic squid.

Now the antimagnetic cores aft of the command deck began to thrum as negative and positive closed with anti-negative and anti-positive charges, accelerating the ship forward.

"Open the arms!"

Ahead of the Rock On, the grappling arms unfolded one stage at a time, spiderlike -

"Enclose."

- And closed around the asteroid (or what they could of it), firmly gripping a full hemisphere of the four-kilometer rock. And that was that. It had taken the Rock On several days to get out to the Belt, and with the added mass of the asteroid it would take several weeks to get back in.

OOC: Ack. Not very good, but it needed to be done. Not really a TESEC post either, since it deals with something to do with the NDA rather than Tsaraine's extrasolar projects, but it has implications for those. This was the best place I could find for it, really.

SuperPlexus

"Arkhreifane? I believe I've found something useful."

"Oh? The very ship of our brief, ralKuerich?"

"Not exactly, Arkhreifane. Ships."

"Ships? The brief is for a single vessel, ralKuerich. Explain, please."

"Well, Arkhreifane ... the Scolopendran TME Industries recently released a civilian version of their Loki design. It can carry over fourteen hundred passengers and around five thousand tons of cargo, land and take off from planetary surfaces, and with it's speed, we could have it going from Earth to Tenebris and back again within twenty-four hours!"

"I note, ralKuerich, that "fourteen hundred" is rather short of the ten thousand minimum of your brief."

"Ye-es, but these are not large ships! We could buy a fleet of them - ten would do nicely, I think. With that we could transport up to fourteen thousand colonists in a single convoy, and it would be much more flexible than a single vessel."

"Hmm. Maybe ... yes. Contact TME Industries, ralKuerich, and see what you can do."

Message To: TME Industries Shipbuilding Division, Dione Shipyard Complex, Saturn/Dione L5 Point
Message Fr: Offices of the TESEC, High Stone, Earth/Moon L3 Point
Message Re: A purchase request

To whom it may concern;

The Greater Ascendancy of Tsaraine is currently looking into purchasing ten civilian-model Loki dropships, to aid in our colonisation projects in the Sol system and elsewhere. Please advise us upon the cost this will entail, how long, on average, supply of these vessels will take, and any related miscellany you believe may be important for a potential customer.

Sincerely,

~ Kteden ralKuerich
TESEC Analyst


OOC: "Header bit - We would like X of Y for Z and make Q modifications, thank you - Footer bit" - Scolo's "how to contact TME" information from IRC. :P Sorry about the excessive crappyness of the post.

--<Transmission Type: Standard Commercial Communique>--
-<Sender: Mabutu O'Malley, Technical Sales>-
-<Destination: Kteden ralKuerich, TESEC>-
--<Subject:Loki-class Purchase>--

For a limited-run order of ten civilian-grade insystem Loki-class dropships optimized for colonization duty (mostly passenger and cargo carrying) you can expect the cost to run about $1.8 billion per vessel. They operate on diatomic hydrogen fusion, so fuel upkeep is dependent upon your infrastructure for that sort of thing; we can also establish a spare parts contract which will provide a stockpile of repair parts for $180 million, which should be enough to maintain a single vessel for around two years of standard use.

We're already producing these at a decent rate, so we can probably fill your order for ten within two to three months or so--we'll just move some allocated for ready-to-sell production into a protected production run for you. If you need some immediately, we can provide a few out of our ready-to-sell cache but we tend to reserve those for emergency and individual orders.

The Loki-class is relatively easy to maintain, is well-built and sturdy for a civilian ship, and comes with a decent defensive arsenal as well, just in case. They're not pretty on the inside because we're not much for vanity panels; if you want we can add those in for a marginal cost. The defensive lasers do have a tendency to overheat with extended use, but as they're for micrometeorite and anti-piracy defense that shouldn't be too much of a concern.

Hopefully that helps you out a bit.

Sales Representative/Engineer Mabutu O'Malley
Shipbuilding Division
TME Industries

--<End Transmission>--

Message To: TME Industries Shipbuilding Division, Dione Shipyard Complex, Saturn/Dione L5 Point, Technical Sales Department, Sales Representative Mabutu O'Malley
Message Fr: Offices of the TESEC, High Stone, Earth/Moon L3 Point
Message Re: Re: Loki-class purchase

Esar O'Malley,

Thank you for your prompt reply.
I am hereby authorised to place an order for ten Loki-class dropships (optimised for colonisation duties) at $1.8 billion each, and a spare-parts contract for that number of vessels at $180 million each, coming to a total of $19.8 billion.

We do not require the vessels to be "pretty on the inside", merely functional, and from all reports the Loki-class has a good history of functioning well. Immediate delivery is not required.

Payment for this order will have to be made over a period of several years, due to the projected TESEC budget for this order, but we can begin with a payment of $5.0 billion upon receipt of the vessels. I hope that this will not be a problem.

Sincerely,

~ Kteden ralKuerich
TESEC Analyst


OOC: This bit added to make Jolt post it.

--<Transmission Type: Standard Commercial Communique>--
-<Sender: Mabutu O'Malley, Technical Sales>-
-<Destination: Kteden ralKuerich, TESEC>-
--<Subject:Loki-class Purchase>--

Alright, then... we can deliver three Lokis immediately, you pay us the five billion on the spot, and then we can produce the rest for you as we produce them and you acquire the funds. Is that acceptable?

Sales Representative/Engineer Mabutu O'Malley
Shipbuilding Division
TME Industries

--<End Transmission>--

Message To: TME Industries Shipbuilding Division, Dione Shipyard Complex, Saturn/Dione L5 Point, Technical Sales Department, Sales Representative Mabutu O'Malley
Message Fr: Offices of the TESEC, High Stone, Earth/Moon L3 Point
Message Re: Re: Loki-class purchase

That is a most acceptable arrangement. Please find the agreed-upon sum in the account specified; I shall not be so crass as to say "money wired".

Thank you for your time,

~ Kteden ralKuerich
TESEC Analyst


OOC: Again, this bit added to make Jolt post it.

--<Transmission Type: Standard Commercial Communique>--
-<Sender: Mabutu O'Malley, Technical Sales>-
-<Destination: Kteden ralKuerich, TESEC>-
--<Subject:Loki-class Purchase>--

Ships wired.

Heh heh heh.

Sales Representative/Engineer Mabutu O'Malley
Shipbuilding Division
TME Industries

--<End Transmission>--

Asteroid HJ-7765, Earth Orbit

For the past week or so the Rock On had been braking hard, until the hum of the antimag cores deepened to a bone-shaking rattle. The ship was not originally designed for carting asteroids, despite it's extensive refit (in fact, it had originally been designed for accelerations no greater than 3g), and slowing the mass of rock preceding the craft took a great deal of energy.

It was good to be back in Earth's vicinity, however, where space was crowded and noisy with light and radio chatter. Out in the dark reaches of the belt it was quiet and lonely - one couldn't even see other ships passing.

Already there were a pair of spaceplanes - modified Osirises, good for orbital work if outmoded in gravity - docked with the ship, bearing the engineers who would install the stationkeeping cores and power supplies. Four kilometers of carbonaceous chrondrite would cause a fuss, were it to blunder out of position.

OOC: Ack. I fear I'm telling rather than showing, but it needed to be written ...

Asteroid T/AA-0054, Tenebris System Asteroid Belt

In the Sol System, asteroids had been mapped for decades (or centuries, or millenia, in the case of some civilisations). Here in Tenebris, where the number of people who'd ever seen the system was only three digits (Tarant didn't know what exactly that number was), the Rock On was mapping them as it went, the banks of molecular computers calculating their orbits, recording their characteristics, and storing physical maps of the rocks for the archives back in Sol.

So despite the fact that they weren't looking for anything rare - no massive Far Stone-sized rocks, no black monoliths of one by four by nine, just a smallish ferrous asteroid - the Rock On had been in the system for several weeks.

The technicians and survey crews on the ground had been happy to have the supplies they'd dropped - despite being connected instantaneously to the SuperPlexus and Plexus networks, and only a few hours from Far Stone, equipment drops came only weekly ... and the little colony was on the far side of the Universe - there was a psychological distance between the vast forests of Tenebris and the cramped arcologies of home.

But after that, the Rock On had been on it's own - oh, the crew could keep in touch with families back home through the Plexus or Superplexus, but to Tarant's mind there was still a fundamental seperation between that and meeting someone in the flesh.

Still, here they were, with a suitable asteroid clutched in the claws of the ship, and the antimag cores beginning to take them back to Tenebris Prime. Soon enough they'd be back at High Stone ... and then doing it all again. C'est la vie.

Landing Field, City One, Continent #2 "Elysium", Tenebris I, System #271 "Tenebris"

Astyach Sche'daya stood in the unfinished concrete shell of the air traffic tower, watching the Lokis come in. They'd been a very astute purchase; with a faster means of getting personell from Earth to Tenebris, construction could proceed measurably faster in the city.

In the not-too-distant future, the place would be ready for inhabitation. But City One, built on one level instead of plunging deep, could hold only five million people, maximum (Granted, there were small nations with populations less than that). Tsaraine's population back on Earth was well over four billion despite a ban on cloning and imposition of birth control.

Hence, again, the Lokis; while the robots could do much of the work of setting up mines, factories, and houses themselves, they couldn't fly. Cities Two through Ten were springing up here on Elysium, carefully spaced to allow for future growth, but even ten cities would make a meagre dent in the Tsarainese population.

So now the Lokis came down, their cargo bays gaping wide; in trundled the robots, destined for the southern reaches of Continent #2, named (officially, now, in the First Atlas of Tenebris) "Southern Avalon". With roughly the same land area as Elysium, the temperate zones of Southern Avalon would support another dozen cities before the robots had to move up the coast.

First Landing Secondary School, City One, Continent #2 "Elysium", Tenebris I, System #271 "Tenebris"

Arina tsaIngha scowled, scuffing her shoes in the tough alien not-quite-grass covering what passed for a rec area at First Landing Sec. She was so, so, so bored, Ruki Aestrakhor curse it and witness.

Lacking anything of more interest to do, she ran through her mental catalogue of people she hated. At the top of the list, of course, were her parents, for dragging her out to this horrible planet for the rest of her life (sure to be unnaturally short - she was certain to be eaten by one of the big predators they'd seen on the screens in Biology class).

Her homeroom teacher, esen arTareva, came a close second; the ancient, humourless bitch had given her a report form scrawled all over in red, which had caused Items Number One to kick up a fuss.

Below that was a long litany of classmates, teachers, neighbours, and the entire sprawling government of the Ascendancy (for colonising Tenebris in the first place). It was headed, most definitely, by her used-to-be-best friend Kinevra, who'd taken up with her used-to-be-boyfriend back in Nova Reio not a week after she'd left. Ruki curse her too.

Ruki curse her brother as well; Arevi's report form from First Landing Intermediate, unlike hers, had practically glowed with the weight of his teacher's comments. He was just as glassy-eyed about this shithole as her parents, spending her portion of their bandwidth allowance doing research on the native animals; he thought he wanted to be a xenobiologist. As if there could possibly be anything more boring (not to mention ugly) than the weird rhinoceros-crab-things populating Elysium. ArTareva would love him.

"Hey, didn't you hear the bell? It's time for class."

Arina gave the speaker - some Ktrazirha girl from some factory town out near Kel Eridhant, almost as big a shithole as City One - a scowl fit to sear her face off, but the girl seemed unaffected.

"Who cares?" she asked. "I sure don't - I didn't exactly ask to come here."

The girl shrugged; she had, and it was Arina's own fault if she couldn't find anything to like on an entire planet.

"Suit yourself," she said, "But nobody thinks it's cool, what you're doing."

She headed off in the direction of the classrooms. Well, fuck her, Arina thought. What the hell did some factory-hick know about anything?

Results of Analysis of TESEC Survey System #312 "Taiga" - Data Analyst Aira arKiadt

Survey Vessel(s): TSCV Kash'haiko Sukal, FTL Probe Craft N-034, Surveysats G-120 through G-122.

System #312 lies eighty-nine lightyears from the Tenebris system, corewards and towards the Third Bar of the Tenebrian galaxy. It was discovered through analysis of Tenebris' stellar neighbourhood as an adjunct to the Search for Sun-like Stars project, and Geb-class surveysats were dispatched to investigate further.

Upon the discovery of free oxygen in the atmosphere of Taiga IV, the H-042(M) / Kash'haiko Sukal was dispatched to investigate further. The full text of their reports is appended to this summary.

System Overview:

The star Taiga is over twice as bright, and a third again as massive, as Sol. This means that the corresponding habitable zone is further out, containing one planet. Sunspot activity is low.

Taiga I is a small, rocky world orbiting at 0.32 AU, with a diameter of 2,344km. Tidally locked, it possesses wide extremes of temperature and little or no usable resources, although the presence of a true "coldest place" in the Taiga system may be of some use to science.

Taiga II is similarly devoid of interest, orbiting at 0.61 AU with a diameter of 3,658km.

Taiga III is of somewhat more interest, primarily to planetary geologists; orbiting at 1.05 AU with a diameter of 8,735km, it is shrouded in a thick atmosphere consisting primarily of sulphur dioxide emitted by it's many active volcanoes; it is believed that there are small seas of hydrogen sulphide on the surface.

While Taiga III is of little commercial interest - it possesses no metals in usable quantities, and the atmosphere is too hostile to support much infrastructure - it's volcanoes are of note; as the planet lacks tectonic plates, these have built up for millions of years in the same spot, much like those of Mars. The tallest, christened Kalazimorchan Mons, reaches to a height of twenty-five kilometers above the datum - two kilometers below Olympus Mons, and the second-tallest volcano known to us.

Taiga IV is of major interest, as it possesses an easily breathable atmosphere and earth-like life. Orbiting Taiga at 2.03 AU, it is close to the outer limit of the habitable zone. Equatorial diameter is 13,370km, somewhat larger than Earth, but surface gravity is only 0.94G - indicating a lack of heavy elements. The year is 930.21 days long.

Due to it's reasonably far-out position, Taiga IV is quite cold, with polar icecaps extending to 70 degrees latitude; snow has been recorded at the equator at higher altitudes. These ice caps hold much of the planet's water; what remains is a good number of small seas or large lakes, most interconnected by rivers, and (except for the largest) frozen over during the long winters (Taiga IV possesses a considerably more elliptical orbit than Earth).

The dominant vegetation appears to be a single species of conifer-like tree (we are cautioned against making comparisons too close to species native to Earth, but it would appear that evolution has driven species here and species there in similar directions). This extends throughout the land area up to around five degrees of the polar ice, where the forest gives way to tundra, dominated by what are in all probability similar to lichens.

While the tree cover of most of the planet is too dense (and the 'Sukal's telescope resolution too imprecise) to observe with any accuracy, large quadrupeds have been observed in the tundra regions.

Taiga IV has two moons, and one spreading belt of lunar material.

Taiga IVa is a crescent-shaped distribution of ice and rock, spread out along a quarter of it's orbit, where an inner moon was pulled within the Roche limit several million years ago.

Taiga IVb is a fairly standard rocky moon, similar to Earth's in all respects.

Taiga IVc is an icy moon of 2,107km diameter, twice as far out as IVb.

Taiga V is a gas giant orbiting at 4.39 AU, with a diameter of 49,534km. It is composed, as one would expect, primarily of hydrogen, and has fifteen small moons.

The Taiga Asteroid Belt is a fairly normal asteroid belt of ferrous and carbonaceous asteroids, orbiting around 6.54 AU. This would appear to be protoplanetary material prevented from coalescing by the gravity of Taiga V.

Taiga VI is a second gas giant, orbiting at 10.69 AU with a diameter of 126,422km (it is severely oblate). The atmosphere is, like Taiga V, primarily hydrogen, and Taiga VI possesses thirty-two moons, primarily captured asteroids.

A note upon the seasons of Taiga IV - edited from research notes by Data Analyst Aira arKiadt

As Taiga IV possesses a highly elliptical orbit, it is naturally colder at the aphelion than the perihelion; these, while they share many of the same features, are not true winters, which are caused by a planet's axial inclination.

Taiga IV's axial inclination - at nineteen degrees slightly less than that of Earth - causes one of Taiga IV's two yearly "winters" to be colder - a "true" winter - in one hemisphere than the other, and likewise for one of the two summers. A breakdown of the seasons follows;

1. The year has been arbitrarily agreed to start at the true-summer solstice of the Southern Hemisphere; that point at which the planet is at perihelion, and the inclination of the planet presents the Southern hemisphere as closer to the sun. This is a false-summer in the Northern Hemisphere, as that hemisphere is not presented to the sun.

2. A quarter through the year is the Southern Hemisphere true-winter solstice; that point at which the planet is at aphelion, and the Southern Hemisphere is angled away from the sun. This is a "false" winter in the Northern Hemisphere, as that hemisphere is presented to the sun.

3. Halfway through the year is the Southern Hemisphere false-summer solstice, as the planet is at perihelion, but the inclination of Taiga IV points the Southern Hemisphere away from the sun. This is the Northern Hemisphere's true-summer.

4. Three quarters of the way through the year is the Southern Hemisphere false-winter solstice, as the planet is at aphelion, but the Southern Hemisphere is presented to the sun. This is the Northern Hemisphere's true-winter.

Taiga IV is currently in the closing stages of the Southern Hemisphere false-winter, approaching "true spring". Due to the limited observation length (Tsarainese vessels have been observing the planet for only a few weeks of the 930-day year), the following is logical conjecture and unproven;

The greatest growing season will be in "true spring", following through true-summer to a harvest in "true autumn". This is a boon, as the true-winter is long and cruel. The fauna and flora will experience a lesser renaissance in "false spring" following through false-summer and false-autumn, preparing for the lesser rigours of false-winter before the thaw of true-spring.

Earth plants would need to be adapted specifically for Taiga IV's longer and more extreme seasons, although non-annuals might be able to squeeze several crops into the length of true-summer. The difficulty of this may render surface agriculture non-viable, forcing the establishment of hydroponics facilities similar to those of the Mother Country.

Preliminary report upon the Southern Hemisphere tundra lifeforms by Xenobiologist Ysuran keiSdengelá - edited by Data Analyst Aira arKiadt

This being the beginning of true-spring in the Southern Hemisphere, plants are beginning to bloom as the snows melt. Hardy lichens - which must surely be buried under a good deal of snow during the winters - are giving way to a kind of grass-analogue, although the ground is becoming sodden with snow-melt.

The profusion of new growth has brought several distinct species of grazers down from the forests, and as this true-spring also seems to be local mating season, we are lucky enough to be able to observe a wide range of species and behaviours.

Greatest of the grazers is a shaggy quadrupedal beast standing a good two meters high at the shoulder, with a broad flat tail and cloven hooves. These would appear to be similar to aurochs or bison back on Earth in terms of ecological niche.

At this point in time they are shedding their thick winter coats (mottled grey in colour, to blend in with the forests), revealing rather fetching coats of grey and orange spots not unlike a jaguar's. The males possess prominent nasal horns, which we have observed in use in battles between rival males.

These large grazers are attended by flocks of small bird-like animals (birdlike insofar as they have wings and feathers; the similarity is very tenuous) feeding upon the shed winter hair (evidently not true hair - keratin is indigestible, although our "birds" may put the lie to that). These serve as a sort of early-warning system for the grazers, taking flight when predators approach.

Lesser in the order of things are herds of smaller, bipedal animals; these somewhat resemble ratites (if ratites had evolved from something similar to a lemur - they resemble more closely the native "birds" and are probably related), and fill a similar ecological niche to deer.

Less numerous, and less gregarious, is a larger, related species, which we have spotted in prides of five to ten individual animals.

We have observed several species of predators, two of which are avian. The first is something vaguely similar to Terran hawks, and has been observed taking the watcher-birds in the air.

The second is a great deal larger, and bears little discernable relation to any Earthly niche, unless one counts the endangered Harpagornis haastei or tiger-eagle. This hides itself in the trees of the tundra's Northern edge, taking wing to pounce upon small grazer cubs (fawns? kits?) and stragglers. We were forced to shoot one such when it mistook arHarakhin for legitimate prey - it is truly a magnificent specimen. Despite his narrow escape, arHarakhin hopes to bring it back to the 'Sukal for autopsy.

On the ground, we spotted packs of quadrupeds employing hunting strategies similar to those of wolves, which they somewhat resemble. They bear little resemblance to any other species in the tundra, and their genetics will be interesting to examine when samples have been taken. The ecosystems of Taiga IV are as rich as any on Tenebris - we may be here for some time.

Seemingly unrelated, but of similar basic shape, is another predatory quadruped, capable of putting on an impressive burst of speed while in pursuit - we recorded speeds of over 120 kmph, exceeding even the cheetah. ArHarakhin expresses no dismay despite this beast's attentions.

Priority: Urgent
Clearance: Imperious

Message To: Arkhreifane of the Star Command Tanyi ralKeyra, High Stone, Earth/Moon L3 Point, Sol; Arkhora Rene Seingult I, Deep Tsarai, Earth, Sol
Message Fr: Captain-Commandant Sevyan tsaShan, TSCV Kash'haiko Sukal, Low orbit of Taiga IV, System #312
Message Re: Intelligent life contacted

Eseni kuirau, developments of most extreme importance upon the surface of Taiga IV; contact of unsuspected sapient species. Please advise.

Attached: transcript of report of field party number four (keiSdengelá, arHarakhin, tsaVedakhet), photographs taken by field party number four.


Urgent news! We are not alone on the planetary surface - have contacted indigenous sapient tool-users.

While observing tundra wildlife as detailed in previous report, we were approached by aliens astride examples of species #15 (larger bipedal grazers). Despite our camoflage, they apparently knew precisely where we were - probable better tracking skills.

We did not initiate contact; the aliens emerged upon us all unawares from the direction of the treeline and attempted at some length to communicate, but we of course did not understand their speech and despite our efforts we were unable to establish even rudimentary intelligence with them; after some time they gave up and returned to the forest.

Description of the aliens follows (they were disconcerted by tsaVedakhet's photography, but we have obtained a few photographs); bipeds of roughly human height and stature, covered in reddish-brown and white fur. ArHarakhin notes a startling similarity to some members of the genus Procyonidae; they'd fit right in in the Federation.

Observed technology level was entirely pre-industrial, probably entirely pre-metallic; possibly nomadic (it has been noted that Taiga IV is a poor prospect for agriculture). Flint-tipped lances, fur coats, boots, gloves et cetera (I note the use of furs from species #3 (large quadrupedal grazers), #14 (smaller bipedal grazers) and others probably entirely unknown; also bone materials and feathers from several predatory species.

Their closest genetic relatives yet observed are probably the wolf-like predators (species #6), although that resemblance is not close. Likely to be more prolific in the forest and tropics.


Please advise,

~ Sevyan tsaShan
Captain-Commandant Kash'haiko Sukal

.

Priority: Urgent
Clearance: Imperious

Message To: Captain-Commandant Sevyan tsaShan, TSCV Kash'haiko Sukal, Low orbit of Taiga IV, System #312
Message Fr: Arkhreifane of the Star Command Tanyi ralKeyra, High Stone, Earth/Moon L3 Point, Sol
Message Re: Re: Intelligent life contacted

Captain-Commandant, all parties currently in the field are to return to the Southern Icecap base camp immediately.

~ Arkhreifane Tanyi ralKeyra
Arkhreifane of the Star Command
High Commander, Inner System Fleet

Intraship Memo
To: Sevyan tsaShan (CaptComdt)
Fr: Serene Cloud Butterfly (SensComdt)

Captain-Commandant,

Please allow me to tender my most sincere apologies for my failure to spot the sapient species from orbit; going over the previous telescope observations, what I had originally labeled as clearings created by the work of animals or natural decay is now evidently the work of conscious design - I can even spot what appear to be buildings in some clearings.

The telescopes can resolve features up to half a meter across at this orbit, and it can be difficult to tell - but that is poor excuse, I know, from the cause of this shameful blunder.

~ Serene Cloud Butterfly

.

Intraship Memo
To: Serene Cloud Butterfly (SensComdt)
Fr: Sevyan tsaShan (CaptComdt)

Butterfly,

Please don't be so harsh on yourself; you were not alone in our analysis of the sensor reports! Were I to blame you, I'd have to extend that to most of our career scientists as well, and the idea that someone is "to blame" holds up poorly over such numbers.

(Incidentally, I note that the presence of buildings surely puts the lie to keiSdengelá's surmise that they're nomads - would you like me to tell him?)

~ S. tsaShan

Priority: High
Clearance: Gracious

Message To: Captain-Commandant Sevyan tsaShan, TSCV Kash'haiko Sukal, Low orbit of Taiga IV, System #312
Message Fr: Arkhreifane of the Star Command Tanyi ralKeyra, High Stone, Earth/Moon L3 Point, Sol
Message Re: Re: Intelligent life contacted

Esar kuirau Sevyan, my friend;

With your field parties back at base camp and risk of accidental re-contact of the natives rendered negligible, the Arkhora and I have had time to discuss the situation and it's implications in greater detail.

The results of that discussion are as follows;


You are to observe the natives via remote. You are not again to make your presence known. The military sensordust and micro-UAVs the 'Sukal carries should be ideal for this, unless you've lost them.
Your xenoanthropologists are to analyse the findings of this observation as best they can without discussion with their colleagues Earthside.
No information upon this discovery is to leave the 'Sukal in any way save through myself or the Arkhora, until further notice. This situation has been given a clearance level of Gracious; you are to explain the ramifications of this to your crew.
TESEC will assemble an appropriate first-contact team Solside. Due to the 'Kfosi being outsystem at present, this will be delivered via Hades cruiser; upon which time the situation shall change and new orders will be delivered.


Best of luck, Sevyan. You're certainly going to need it.

Neiudh dtokh Ruki Aestrakhor aseiravda,

~ Arkhreifane Tanyi ralKeyra
Arkhreifane of the Star Command
High Commander, Inner System Fleet

.

Section from the ongoing Report Upon the Taiga IV Natives - edited by Data Analyst Aira arKiadt. Clearance: Gracious

(We note that the micro-UAVs provided are too small for effective control during periods of high winds, and request larger replacements upon the next supply Nergal. Until this problem is solved, we cannot give any high level of accuracy in aerial recordings - God Above alone knows how the military manages.)

Through reanalysis of the orbital sensor data combined with micro-UAV overflight we have located a nearby indigenous encampment; a dozen tent-like structures ranging in size from one point five to ten meters in diameter, constructed of what appears to be felt - much like an Earthside yurt.

Sensor "dust" was released, and this, combined with UAV overflight, has allowed us to count the number of individuals in the encampment; a total of thirty-seven, fairly evenly divided between males and females, and fifty individuals of species #15, the grazers which serve them as mounts.

There were no obvious children or elderly present, by which we surmise that this is a hunting party, departed from some encampment further North to hunt the species of the tundra in the spring thaw. Work is underway in searching for that further encampment, but it's likely we won't know where it is until they decamp and return to it.

For stone-age nomads (semi-nomads?) they appear to be quite advanced, having mastered such technologies as the stirrup, saddle, and bridle (all inventions which revolutionised warfare on Earth), among others, including the spoked wheel - there are several rudimentary carts, which must allow them to substantially increase the amount of game returned to the (hypothetical) Northern camp.

We've also spotted close relatives of species #6 (the wolf-like predators), evidently domesticated. If dogs are man's best friend, these things are clearly the same to the indigenes.

(We trust that the assembly of the first-contact party is proceeding - the sooner we can talk to these aliens, the more we can learn. They are a fascinating study.)

Encryption: Speaker Day's personal cypher
Message To: Speaker for the Ogliarchy Elisa Day, Chiba City, Mhu Thulan, The Most Glorious Hack
Message Fr: Arkhora Rene Seingult I, Deep Tsarai, Tsaraine
Message Re: A personal favour

Dear Elisa,

While I hate to impose upon your personal mail like this for a matter of state (or more or less a matter of state), I have a small problem that we Tsarainese have been unable to find a solution to, and I thought that you might be able to help.

Now, the following has been given the Ascendancy's third-highest security clearance level, so I'd be most obliged if you'd keep it to a "need to know" level in the Hack; technically I'm not supposed to tell anyone of it, and, as Louis the Fourteenth might have said, "L'état, c'est moi!"

So; recently the TESEC came across a planet with a thriving population of stone-age indigenous aliens. The scientists are eager to talk to them, but less eager to spend however many years might be required in learning their language; some sort of translation program, or a babel-fish, would be called for, but unfortunately Tsaraine has neither.

Thus I thought I'd ask you; everyone knows Hackers have the best IT, after all*. Would you happen to have something that might suit? I'd be much indebted if you did.

Sincerely,

~ R. Seingult

*PS: There's a disturbing proliferation of Federal pornography in the Plexus network I've been meaning to speak to you about. >_<

.

Begin Message

Encryption: Personal Cypher
TO: Arkhora Rene Seingult I
FR: Speaker for the Oligarchy Elisa Day
RE: Personal Favor
TX:

It's nice to hear from you, Rene. We haven't had much chance to talk since the wedding. I hope everything's going well with you and hope to visit some time.

Your situation is certainly interesting. We have a couple options that you may find workable. First, I could send you a translation program that Alysa's been fiddling with, but it isn't complete, and could be bogged down. The other option is for me to introduce you to Cristiona.

Cristiona was created a few years ago when we were experimenting with linguistic programs and trying to perfect AI development. She's rather shy and introspective, but she has an uncanny ability with languages, both spoken and written. She's been working with Alysa on the previously mentioned translation program. It's a collaborative effort as Alysa knows programming but not linguistics, and Cristiona the other way around.

At any rate, she has a bit of wanderlust (understandable given her age), and I'm sure she'd agree to travelling to your planet, provided it isn't some kind of multi-year arrangement. I don't know how this will mesh with your security requirements, however; so I won't mention it to her yet.

As for the matter of pornography on your local systems, I'm sure I have no idea where it came from, who put it there, or anything of the sort. If you are displeased with the quality of said pornography, I also wouldn't be able to help you ^_~

Yours,

Elisa

End Message

Encryption: Speaker Day's personal cypher
Message To: Speaker for the Ogliarchy Elisa Day, Chiba City, Mhu Thulan, The Most Glorious Hack
Message Fr: Arkhora Rene Seingult I, Deep Tsarai, Tsaraine
Message Re: Re: Personal favour

Dear Elisa,

It goes well enough, as these things go - one day is much the same as any other once you're past it. Certainly you may visit my humble abode, should you so wish - although, as usual, there isn't much to see underground.

With regards Cristiona; given the antsy, excitable, and impatient nature of my Researchers, it's probably better to go with the less buggy option. The alternative could also give us some embarrassments in the field, and the last thing we want is a field party massacred by aliens because the program called a chieftain's heir a small frog!

I'm sure security can be made to fit - there's a ship scheduled to depart for Taiga (that being the system) soon, and when that leaves, clearance will be downgraded to merely "Top Secret". Barring unforseen delays, it should take around twenty-two days to get from Earth to Taiga, all told.

The duration of the mission I'm unsure of, however - certainly the Researchers would like to stay there until the heat death of the Universe, if right now is any judge, and I simply don't know how long it will take to establish mutually intelligible communication with the aliens. I'm sure we can arrange to have Cristiona return home if she wishes to do so.

Sincerely,

~ R. Seingult

PS: You are incorrigible. Give my regards to Sarah.
.

Begin Message

Encryption: Personal Cypher
TO: Arkhora Rene Seingult I
FR: Speaker for the Oligarchy Elisa Day
RE: Re: Personal Favor
TX:

I thought you might see things that way. Having the program throw the wrong umlaut when translating Elvish is one thing, they'll likely get over it. A completely unknown species might be a bit more... dramatic.

I've talked it over with Cristiona (and her 'mother'), and she seems rather eager to take part. She's looking forward to the space travel, as well as putting her hobby to practical use (I imagine that helping code a program can be mind-numbingly dull).

She's pretty flexible with how long she's willing to stay away, and the ability to send messages will help quite a bit. I'm mostly worried that she'll get homesick.

Yours,

Elisa

PS- Of course I'm incorrigible! You certainly weren't complaining when you learned just how incorrigible I am. And speaking of... Sarah looks forward to a visit too ~_^

End Message

Encryption: Speaker Day's personal cypher
Message To: Speaker for the Ogliarchy Elisa Day, Chiba City, Mhu Thulan, The Most Glorious Hack
Message Fr: Arkhora Rene Seingult I, Deep Tsarai, Tsaraine
Message Re: Re: Personal favour

In that case, the Devouring Wind will depart from High Stone in a few days. It's planned to go through the arivaika to Tenebris, and thence to Taiga via the Empire's stardrive, which will take several weeks (and will be incommunicado during that time).

I can arrange to send a spaceplane to pick up Cristiona and her mother; unless I'm mistaken, the Federation doesn't have much of a space launch capability, beyond GMC's space gun?

Once they arrive at Taiga, communication can be established fairly easily through the aeryaghrana switchboards at High Stone; they're designed to carry quite high bandwidths.

Will Cristiona's AI core require a large amount of room, or high power supplies? If so, I'd best let the Star Command know of it.

Sincerely,

~ R. Seingult

PS: I was drunk at the time, and whose fault was that?
.

Section from the ongoing Report Upon the Taiga IV Natives - edited by Data Analyst Aira arKiadt. Clearance: Gracious

The native encampment has been packed up, and they're on their way North - some afoot, most astride. We have UAVs tracking them, and we think we have their "home base" located; a settlement of several dozen timber and thatch buildings, several hundred kilometers above the treeline; at this rate they'll get home in a week or so.

Those carts of theirs are clearly very useful to them; their tents have been packed upon them (they make suprisingly small parcels), as has a good deal of meat.

Begin Message

Encryption: Personal Cypher
TO: Arkhora Rene Seingult I
FR: Speaker for the Oligarchy Elisa Day
RE: Re: Personal Favor
TX:

Yes, our current space abilities are rather limited. We're working to fix this with the White Bird project, but that isn't complete yet. So, yes, a pick up would be desired.

I'm afraid Cristiona's mother will not be going with, as she is needed planetside for various projects. Not to worry, Cristiona knows this and is okay. She's viewing it in a similar vein as studying abroad. Since you have the communications infrastructure, she'll be fine.

As for Cristiona's core, you won't need to worry about storing it. We made tremendous progress with that sort of thing when we designed Elijah. Suffice it to say, she'll simply have an extra suitcase.

Yours,

Elisa

PS- Well, I blame Sarah; you know how college students are. Besides, drinking doesn't make you do anything you don't want to do. Come back from Narnia, honey.

End Message

---

The Hacker AI waited patiently for the craft to arrive and pick her up. She looked to be about sixteen, had long white hair and, in a marked departure from 'normal' Federation AI's, she had red eyes. There were a few suitcases at her feet, including one that appeared to be made of alluminum and had biometric locks on it. She was a thin slip of a girl, the lock of hair covering one eye helping to highlight her introversion.

Still, there was a nervous excitment about her. The opportunity to not only leave the planet, but to leave the solar system (indeed, the galaxy) was enough to thrill most anyone; especially when one was a typical Hacker: highly curious. As the spaceplane began its final descent, Cristiona hugged her mother tightly and then hugged Elisa and Alysa.

Into the abyss.

Encryption: Speaker Day's personal cypher
Message To: Speaker for the Ogliarchy Elisa Day, Chiba City, Mhu Thulan, The Most Glorious Hack
Message Fr: Arkhora Rene Seingult I, Deep Tsarai, Tsaraine
Message Re: Re: Personal favour

Well, I'm always happy to volunteer the Star Command to help you with this project of yours, should you wish it. I'll have a spaceplane sent in a day or two, then.

And it seems you have indeed made advances - it's not been so long since we commissioned Ksanya, and her core is taller than I am. I'll have to talk to you about that later, too - various projects and groups here could do with AI assistance.

Sincerely,

~ R. Seingult

PS: Bah, humbug. Do I look like the White Witch to you?


---

Chiba City, Mhu Thulan, The Most Glorious Hack

Displaying arrogant disregard for the laws of physics, the spaceplane descended straight down at a leisurely pace, stopping neatly on the tarmac not far distant.

The two-man crew were reasonably typical of the Tsarainese majority; middling-short, middling-tan, with their long hair tied back.

"Good afternoon!"

The shorter of the two, a solid, middle-aged man, grinned broadly at Cristiona.

"I'm Pilot-Commandant Eirkhanz Sche'daya," he told her, "And this is my co-pilot ... also Eirkhanz Sche'daya. He's Tall Khanz, I'm Short Khanz."

Tall Khanz reached over to shake her hand. "Pleased to meet you. Can I take your bags?"

The interior of the spaceplane was reasonably spacious, something like a commercial aeroplane; Short Khanz pointed out the safety features as regulations required.

"She's a good old bird, though," he added, "One of the first Anubises they built, and I've never had a problem with her yet."

He took it up at an equally leisurely pace; gone were the days of crushing accelerations, when an antimagnetic core could keep something hovering against the pull of gravity. The sky darkened from blue to black and the world shrank beneath them, until it was just a small blue ball hanging in the void.

Space, especially near-Earth space, was far from empty, however, and Short Khanz took the time to point out various features of interest; the ISS, the Junk Belt in Low Earth Orbit (with quite a few ridiculously oversized hulls drifting derelict among the wreckage), and the ships and space stations of many nations.

"You can't see the Moon," he said, "It's on the far side of the Earth from where we're headed. However, if you look this way ... that is High Stone."

High Stone was a three-kilometer nickel-iron potato, crowded in among other objects in the Lagrange Three point, and seemingly covered in ships. Here was docked the vessels of the Inner System Fleet, the Anubis squadrons, the orbital-defence Wraith squadrons, and several Horuses of the freighter fleet.

Many of them were docked along the eight-hundred-meter spar of the docking arm (formerly the Commonwealth spacecraft Tsalin I), and Short Khanz directed the Anubis towards one of them; an ugly brick of a ship, with cargo cannisters bolted to every surface.

"The Devouring Wind herself - TSCV Ha-005. The Territorials don't build pretty, but they do build to last - Hades-class cruisers like these are the mainstay of the combat arm."

He docked with the practiced ease of a master, and they filed out of the spaceplane, into the ship proper. Territorials didn't build pretty on the inside either; the interior was the bare minimum of functionality, purely a military machine.

There was a woman waiting for them, tall and pale as any of the Tsakh, wearing the black and grey of Security.

"Cristiona Hirsch? I'm Serai tsaRikhan, ExSec Special Operative - currently heading groundside security on this mission, or I will be when we get to Taiga. I'll show you to your rooms, if you will - and I believe some of the Researchers currently on Taiga will be conferencing with our lot via the aeryaghrana in an hour or so."

Begin Message

Encryption: Personal Cypher
TO: Arkhora Rene Seingult I
FR: Speaker for the Oligarchy Elisa Day
RE: Re: Personal Favor
TX:

I'll have to speak with the Oligarchy on micronization and distance-kits. Some of this is still proprietary, I'm afraid. Also, Cristiona does still have a hellishly huge core, the 'suitcase' is generally used for long distance travels. I don't really understand it, but I'm told it's very high tech. You'll have to forgive my ignorance, I'm just a diplomat.

Yours,

Elisa

PS- Is it just me, or are these Post Scripts more interesting? I'll be in touch later about a visit. Alcohol's your responsibility this time...

End Message

---

"He's Tall Khanz, I'm Short Khanz."

Cristiona giggled softly at the designation as she followed them on board. While she was interested in the scenery, she seemed far more interested in the etymology of their language and their names.

---

Cristiona smiled at Serai, her voice was soft and quiet, "Yes, I'd like that, thank you. Could I send a quick note to my mother, just to let her know I made it this far, please?" Oddly enough, she'd already started to pick up a faint Tsarainese accent. She'd probably be speaking the language by lunch.

Encryption: Speaker Day's personal cypher
Message To: Speaker for the Ogliarchy Elisa Day, Chiba City, Mhu Thulan, The Most Glorious Hack
Message Fr: Arkhora Rene Seingult I, Deep Tsarai, Tsaraine
Message Re: Re: Personal favour

I hope the "suitcase" will work at these ranges, then - Taiga is a very long way away. Either way, we'll know after the gate transit to Tenebris - that's the bulk of the distance.

Sincerely,

~ R. Seingult

PS: I'll look forward to it.


(OOC: Fluid-time, away!)

TSCV Devouring Wind, Low Orbit over Taiga IV, Taiga (System #312), Tenebrian Galaxy

"That's it," Serai said, "Taiga Four."

It was a relief to be back in real space-time, after three weeks out of it - the presence of all that un-space outside the ship had a maddening effect (sometimes literally), although Cristiona didn't seem to have noticed it.

The planet's second moon was a bright speck; the first, a dull grey ball; the crescent of scattered ice and rock was a glittering band across the face of the planet. A much smaller speck, highlighted on the screens, was the Kash'haiko Sukal.

Unaffected by the myriad light sources and matter around Earth, the stars of the Taiga system were a rich tapestry, brightly shining. The crew - who had turned, to a man, star-mad spacers soon enough - couldn't take their eyes off them; here was an entirely new galaxy!

"We're going to dock with the 'Sukal first," Serai explained, "And transfer the supplies we've brought along - the ships will stay docked until one has to leave, to share on power expenditures and atmosphere recycling. The 'Sukal is supposedly a good deal roomier than this tin coffin, too."

This they did shortly, attaching to the other ship firmly. The 'Sukal's crew had not been isolated entirely from humanity for the past months - they had the SuperPlexus, and regular contact with family back home - but they shared the slightly haggard look of any group which spent too long too far from home.

Captain-Commandant tsaShan seemed cheerful enough, though, and he was certainly grateful for the supplies they brought with them; the 'Sukal was designed to hold out for years, but it got monotonous after a time. The Researchers under his command were eager to speak to fresh faces, practically babbling about their discoveries and theories - so far the expedition remained under the Top Secret label, and nothing had been published.

"A good deal of our Researchers are down at the base camp, though," tsaShan told them, "On the Southern icecap near the tundra. We judged there was little chance of the natives coming across us there."

Cristiona nodded quietly as various things were pointed out to her. She wasn't the type to prattle needlessly. She did seem to take note of everything around her, and rarely needed to ask questions or seek clarification.

During the time in hyperspace, Cristiona had spent her time doodling and writing stories about unicorns and things like that. She had also done some work on the Elven language and its excessive use of umlauts. Her excuse for the later was that she'd been thinking of doing it for a later paper, but it was quite possibly just a personal peeve of hers.

While she was deeply interested in linguistics, and more than willing to get into complicated discussions about it, she wasn't one of those boring people that only had one passion. It was a long trip, but not unbearable.

However, she was also more than willing to buckle down and get to work when needed. She pondered briefly before addressing tsaShan, her Sekhel already as fluent as any native's, "Would you happen to have any recordings of the language in question? I'd prefer to have a little bit of knowledge about their language beforehand." She smiled wryly, "As opposed to trying on-the-fly."

"I'm afraid not," Sevyan explained. "The field party which was originally approached by the natives didn't make any recordings, and we've been under orders not to approach them until the first contact team arrived. I suppose you'll have to do your best - I do hope it's not a problem, but I suppose we need to start somewhere."

Cristiona frowned, but nodded a little, "Fair enough. From what I've been told, they've been reasonably friendly, correct? If that's the case then hopefully I'll be able to listen long enough to start picking a few things up."

Reaching into her jacket, she pulled out a small PDA-looking device, "This has the prototype of the translation program Alysa-sama and I were working on, as well as a recorder." She tapped her lips in thought for a few moments, "This will probably take awhile, and the smaller the audience the better; I don't want to frighten them."

"Friendly enough, we think," Sevyan replied, "Or as much so as can be inferred from three individuals and as many minutes.

"With regards choosing your audience ... we've been concentrating our researches on one tribe in the Southern hemisphere, but they're spread all over the planet - I'm sure finding a few to talk to won't be a problem."

Cristiona sat on the ground, several curious natives around her. She'd told her Tsarainese escorts to stand off to the side as she talked with the tribe's leader. Scattered around the central firpit were a series of simple huts and buildings. The ice-house was probably the sturdiest, having been made of stone as opposed to the light wood that made most of the other buildings. There was a healthy fire blazing in the pit, as Cristiona had been there for several hours. The young girl showed no signs of boredom or disinterest in the proceedings, even as some of her escorts looked painfully bored. Even many of the villagers had grown weary of the process; their interest in the furless interlopers waning.

The 'process' was mind-numbingly dull, truth be told. It seemed to consist of Cristiona pointing to an object, the elder saying it's name and Cristiona repeating it. This name game had continued for a couple hours before Cristiona seemed to have a solid grasp of some common nouns and names. From there she had managed to work out a couple adjectives for the named nouns.

With the assistance of her translation program, she managed a stilted sentance, requesting that the elder tell her some folk stories of the tribe. Her comprehension was minimal at first, but as the elder continued, she picked up more and more of their language and grammar.

It formed an amazing dicotomy. While the process itself was unbelievably boring, the fact that she could learn a whole new language so quickly was fascinating. It was like watching someone learn through time-lapse photography. She obviously couldn't learn the whole language in a day -- it would take weeks of work -- but she knew enough to get basic concepts across.

Concepts such as: "Can I sleep here tonight?"

While Cristiona spoke to the natives, the Tsarainese Researchers looked about with excitement; the orbital observations of Xanadu's more advanced culture besides, this was the closest they'd of them had come to an alien civilisation untouched by advanced contact. Until now, that is.

"These birds are unlike anything I've seen yet," arHarakhin murmured, "Not at all like the ones on the tundra." He sat down on his haunches to peer closer at one of the chicken-like things, which promptly ran away.

He sighed; it really was very much different. While the things in the tundra looked almost as if something akin to a flying squirrel had started flapping, these were much more birdlike - although their hard, bony beaks were filled with teeth. There were a great number of them running about the village, obviously domesticated. The dog-like things watched them lazily, but didn't take chase.

Others were wandering about, examining the structures; while good manners kept them (barely) out of the buildings, they looked over the exteriors very closely (followed by perplexed natives - had the strange spirits never seen houses before?), noting their construction - which was quite advanced for what it was, held together soundly with wooden pegs.

Serai and the hulking dark forms of the power armoured guards, however, didn't move an inch - their job was to make sure the aliens didn't hurt the Tsarainese, and that was what they intended to do. Serai's poker face betrayed nothing, but she was assessing the military capabilities of the aliens very closely indeed, and discovering, as expected, that compared to Tsaraine's it was nothing to write home about; spears, bows, and clubs. Granted they might manage to kill a Researcher or two, but if hostilities began, her troopers could probably level the place in minutes.

There were only two kinds of paranoia, after all.

-----

Andzai was master shaman of the Round Lake tribe, having dreamed the Firebird Dream and undergone the rites of initiation long before; to him fell the task of intercession with the spirits haunting Ka-Ris. It was not often that they assumed corporeal form, but when they did, that too was his responsibility.

This particular tribe of spirits seemed very curious, which was better, at least, than malevolent beings who might snatch away a child, or bring snow out of season. It was said, in the oral tradition passed down from master shaman to apprentice since the Firebirds had brought the people out of Ka-Szi, that curiousity was a shaman's mark, and Andzai was not one to question the wisdom passed down from the Firebirds.

And they were not, it seemed, that class of spirit with their fur on the inside - or at least, they hadn't eaten anyone just yet. Perhaps a new class of spirits would have to be added; those with fur only atop their heads, and too much of it there.

That the white-haired spirit might seem to learn proper speech rapidly - what of that? The world was full of wondrous things.

"That one," Trzeka muttered in his ear, "Is their leader. Can you not see it?"

Andzai nodded, and continued to speak, relating the tale of the Firebirds taking the people from Ka-Siu to Ka-Ris. It was a long tale, and one of the most important. Trzeka might be chieftain, but what did he know about how to talk to spirits?

He had, however, discovered some small truth; Andzai had noticed it also. The tall, dark-haired one's posture and gaze said it - and the way the hulking black-and-blue golems backed her was confirmation even a child could read. He could tell, also, that Trzeka felt threatened by the spirit chieftain; what man wouldn't, faced with an opponent like that?

But when the white-haired spirit uttered it's bizzare, barely comprehensible request, even Andzai was stumped - everyone knew that spirits slept in the upside-down places underneath lakes, which was why it was so important not to fall in them.

What to do? Trzeka would rather have them go back under the lakes, he knew; the spirits would rather stay here. Given spirits of such obvious potency, well ... Andzai had, in his time, seen several chieftains. He had seldom seen spirits take on flesh.

"You may sleep by our fire-pit tonight, if that is your wish," he answered. When the spirit communicated that this was not it's wish, had not been it's meaning, Andzai was even more bemused - who'd ever heart of spirits which slept as people did? It explained why they didn't sleep underneath lakes, though - no person could do that, so maybe no hairless spirit could, either.

This bore considering - there were four-score people in the village, and a score of the furless spirits. Only a few buildings might house that number - the Winter Hall, the Warrior's Hall, or Andzai's own Shaman's Hall.

The Warrior's Hall was off-limits to non-initiates, and surely none of these spirits knew those trade codes and counter-codes. The Winter Hall was somewhat more ideal, but there were still many people sleeping in it while they repaired damage to other buildings. The Shaman's Hall might seem ideal, but Andzai had his doubts. Only the white-haired spirit seemed to be a shaman; the dark-haired one with the golems was clearly their chieftain, and the others ... who could tell? They seemd naïve and simple as children.

"You may sleep in my Hall tonight," he said. "Your chieftain must sleep" - he saw Trzeka's furious expression, and amended what he'd been going to say - "There also. The others may sleep in the Winter Hall - and our warriors to watch them," he added, in concession to Trzeka. "And golems do not sleep, of course - they may stay where they are."

The stories were fascinating, at least what she could pick up of them. She would listen to the recordings later to hear the stories themselves; right now, she was a little too focused on the words and lyrical structure. She idly found herself wishing that she had psychic ability, but at the same time, that struck her as cheating.

She realised that she and her escorts weren't fully trusted. She sighed a little, pondering ways to address that particular problem. Unfortunately, the best way to be trusted was to be trusting. And trusting a completely alien race was a rather difficult thing to do -- she was beginning to understand their side of the equation.

Cristiona nodded as the shaman (she still wasn't sure of his name) described what their sleeping arrangements would be, and started giggling as he finished. Her giggling turned to laughter as she saw the looks of everyone around her. The confusion of the natives was amusing enough, but the look on Serai's face was priceless. There was a certain level of being the only person to get a joke. Her escorts had no idea what was said and the natives were clueless as to why 'golem' was so funny.

Wiping tears of mirth from her eyes she smiled at the shamen, searching for the proper words, "Let me... talk with my... chieftain." She smiled a little as she realised that she'd probably managed the word order properly and stood up, ignoring her cramped leg and walked over to Serai. She lowered her voice as she switched to Sekhel, "Well, we've been invited to stay the night," slight twisting of the truth, but still, "You and I would stay with the shamen, the researchers will stay with the villagers." She fought down another round of giggles and pointed to the guards in power armor, "And your 'golems' are supposed to just stand around out here."

She bit her lip nervously, "We should probably agree, we don't want to offend them, and being trusting is a good way to gain their trust. If you want, I can try and explain why they aren't golems, but... higher concepts are a little difficult." She smiled weakly at Serai, hoping the older woman wasn't mad at her.

Serai nodded. "Understood."

>> PACS Commander arTain: You got that?

<< ExSec SpecialOp tsaRikhan: Got that. Emet emet emet, I am ze temple golem! More seriously, though, we can manage for a day or two - these suits are designed for that. It's going to get a little close in here after a while, though.

>> PACS Commander arTain: Excellent.

"They understand, too," she added.

>> Contact Team: Get back here, stat. Last one's a rotten egg.

"As do the Researchers. Radio implants are wonderful things."

Whether or not Serai was mad at her, she didn't show it; that poker face could conceal a lot of things.

Cristiona peered at Serai for a moment, trying to read the older woman's expression and failing miserably, which made her a little on edge. On her way here she hadn't realised that she would be a defacto diplomat, and she was terrified that she was making a mistake. While Serai's null expression did nothing to lessen her fears, it didn't make her worry any more. When she realised that she wasn't going to get any reassurance from Serai, she turned back to the natives.

She pondered her reply for a moment. She didn't have a firm grasp of the language, and her confidence had been shaken a little. After a few false starts, she settled for keeping things simple: "It's fine."

Andzai disapproved somewhat - whatever would Trzeka think, seeing a spirit shaman defer so readily to it's chieftain? The chief was overbearing as it was.

"Very well," he replied, "That is as it shall be, then."

And he turned to explain this to the villagers, telling them of the arrangements he had made. They were less than happy, of course, at the idea of sharing a roof with the spirits - bad luck came of that sort of thing - but the Shaman's Hall wasn't big enough to house all of them, or even most of them.

Soon enough the other spirits reappeared from wherever they'd been, and they all split up; Trzeka and his wives to his home, other villagers to theirs or to the Winter Hall, those who were more than simply warriors of necessity to the Warrior's Hall, and Andzai, the spirit shaman, and the chieftain to the Shaman's Hall.

Save for the Warrior's Hall, it was the most splendid building in the village; soundly constructed and wonderfully carved with scenes or beings from the tales along it's rafters and it's walls. Towards the back a tree had grown long ago - the Hall had been built around it - and this, too, was carved, a splendid depiction of a Firebird reaching out from the wood.

-----

To Serai, the carving looked rather as if someone, with only a chicken for reference material, had tried to design a bird of prey, and then painted the result in red and yellow stripes. Odd wooden rods, scored and notched with strange designs, hung in bunches from the tree around it, and more hung from the bird's claws.

Sitting in the hollow formed between two thick roots of the tree, beneath the bird, was another of the aliens, almost invisible within the heavy cold-weather gear they wore. Serai, who was beginning to feel the night's chill even through her own (incomparably more advanced) winter clothing, envied it.

It didn't so much as stir as they sat down - might it be some sort of mummified corpse, some ancestor on display beneath the totem of their faith? But no, her implants registered it as a living, breathing organism. Maybe just sleeping, then.

The old alien - the shaman, apparently - turned to speak to Cristiona. Serai supressed annoyance that she couldn't understand what it (he?) was saying.

-----

"Will you share of my supper tonight?" Andzai asked the shaman. "I have fowl roasting in the fire, and it may be that my apprentice shall join us, be she back in a timely fashion."

Cristiona was amazed at the woodworking. It had been made with primative tools, certainly, but it was clear how much love and attention had been put into it. The reverence was amazing. She was finding herself more and more intregued with not just the language of the natives, but their culture too.

She took a few minutes mulling over what Andzai had said, subtly consulting with her PDA. She hated not knowing the language better, but simultanously kicked herself for those feelings, I've just gotten here. Can't be a master already. Her translation was a little imperfect ("Do you want to eat together", "I'm cooking something on the fire and my daughter might be here later.") but she had a pretty solid grasp. She smiled and nodded to Andzai, "I'd love to!"

She paused momentarily, almost having forgotten about Serai. She turned to her guardian, "I've been invited to dinner, and I accepted. I... um... guess they'll give you something too, but this seems to be an... er... honorary thing?"

"Oh?" Momentarily, Serai seemed perplexed, but that poker face returned soon enough for her to pretend it had never happened. "I have been told I'm sleeping here - one would think that eating here would follow. If not, well, there are plenty of supplies in my pack."

Behind them, someone uttered a little yelp - the bundled figure sitting beneath the tree had woken up, it seemed, and emerged from it's coccoon as a rather short young alien. At least that much Serai could tell - who knew what it's gender might be, under those thick robes?

It peered at them, and began to speak to the shaman in a rapid sing-song patter.

-----

"- And who are these spirits, Andzai? Forgive mine ignorance - surely such as they should be safely under the lakes at this time?"

"These are a new class of spirits," Andzai attempted to explain, "Which appeared corporeal in the village today. It seems they do not sleep under lakes as do their kin, nor in the treetops as do ghosts, and thus I allowed them in.

"Courtesy repays courtesy, after all - and one should always be courteous to spirits as powerful as these. This is their shaman, and that is their chieftain - there are near another score in the Winter Hall, for they would not all fit here.

"This is mine apprentice, Aiska by name," he told the spirit shaman.

Cristiona tried to keep up with the brief conversation, but with Andzai not speaking slowly for her benefit, she only understood snippets of what was said. And what she did understand made precious little sense, Why would I sleep in a lake?

She smiled at Aiska, sizing up the younger Ailuridine. The creatures reminded her of Kitsune. There were differences, of course, but the similarities were there. As she looked at the two, and heard Andzai's introduction, she realised that she'd made an error in translation. This Aiska wasn't his daughter but his student. She smiled to herself, a little impressed. Primative cultures often segregated males and females. Either these natives were more enlightened than most, or Andzai was.

Regardless, one should be polite. She licked her lips nerviously as she formed her responce in her mind, she didn't want to offend, after all, "Pleased to... um... meet you. My name is 'Cristiona'."

"I am also pleased to meet you," Aiska replied. "My name is "Aiska". My master you know already."

Her stomach rumbled, and fairly directly she went over to the fire. Poking in the ashes with a stick, she extriciated a pair of solid-looking fired clay blobs, and broke one open to reveal succulent flesh within - the fowl had been covered in clay and baked, cooking it in it's own juices. As one might expect, it smelled delicious.

Cristiona smiled shyly at Aiska, simply watching her as she went to the fire. It wasn't until she smelled the roasted fowl that she realised just how hungry she was. She glanced at Aiska and the fire, a little unsure if she was to retrieve dinner herself, or if she was a guest. She decided to just sit tight and play it by ear. It was rather overwhealming, and she did her best not to look worried.

Andzai went over to the fire and cracked open the other bird, pulling the meat in half. He held up one half to Cristiona, an implicit question; would she join them?

Cristiona smiled and got up, brushing some dirt from her clothing as she walked over to the fire and accepted the bird, "Thank you." She smiled as she took a bite, "Very good." She was ravenously hungry, but tried very hard to remember her manners. After all, Anamaria and Sofia didn't raise a little savage.

Andzai's people had invented the fork, but had no plates - ceramics were unknown to them. Given that, the two - shaman and shaman-in-training - sat cross-legged with their portions of the fowl before them, picking at it with their forks. They were interested in Cristiona's manners as they were interested in everything else about the "spirits", but they made no judgements upon them - it was just a thing. Spirits were wild and varied, and nobody could know all of them.

Once offered the fork, Cristiona made use of it, picking the roasted bird out from its clay shell. While it wasn't dry -- the cooking method has ensured that -- it was rather bland. The furred natives hadn't learned the joys of seasoning. Cristiona mentally chastised herself, it was entirely possible that there were no herbs suitable for such measures. Besides, they were hunter-gatherers, not chefs.

After finishing her meal, she set down the clay case with the bones in it and smiled at the shamen and his apprentace, "Thank you. That was..." she paused, trying to figure out the right words, "very good." She stifled a yawn and gave them another smile.

Serai partook of the "bird" she was offered with suspicion - it looked like the bastard offspring of an archaeopteryx and a rat, and it tasted like chicken (but then, everything tastes like chicken), but it might well be toxic.

It was all very well for Cristiona, whose avatar probably contained enough mechanical bits just to digest food at all to render anything that might be there harmless, but Serai's implants included nothing of the sort - against poison or gas, the augments which cost more than an aerospace fighter were useless - and who could say that these aliens weren't planning to poison them, or kill them all in their sleep? Not her, certainly.

The shaman disappeared outside with the remnants of their meal - there was a midden out the back, which Serai could smell even over the powerful stink of alien body odour. One couldn't expect a race with no running water to bathe often, though, and doubtless they'd all be smelling pretty gamey after a while.

The apprentice was saying something, looking at Cristiona. Serai wished she could understand - it was so frustrating, to have no idea what was going on!

-----

"It is nothing special," Aiska replied, "Just old birds culled from the flocks - we cannot spend time hunting, so we must survive on what is given. It is a powerful incentive to do well!

"But Andzai is much better than me - he knows many of the tales I am only learning."

Cristiona nodded, once again feeling foolish as she had to take her time to figure out what was being said. Still, she found Aiska more approachable than Andzai. Probably because their ages were more similar. She pondered her responce carefully, not wanting to sound like a dullard, "Still," she grinned, "When you haven't eaten all day, it's really good." She smiled happily at Aiska, "That's okay, it's... nice to talk to someone my own age."

What an odd spirit this was! Andzai had never told Aiska of anything like it - possibly he didn't know anything like it, but that was hard to conceive of - Andzai was very old and very learned.

"I am eight-and-a-half years old, from Great Winter to Great Winter," she replied, "How old are you? I'm afraid I can't tell."

Cristiona blinked rapidly, positive that she had misheard or mistranslated Aiska. It was impossible for the, whatever she was, to be only 8 years old. She glanced at her PDA, a certain level of concern on her features. No, she'd translated properly. Eight-and-a-half. She glanced up at Aiska, "I'm sixteen..." Different orbital times never occurred to Cristiona, of course, she was a linguist, not an atrophysicist.

She tilted her head to the side, looking Aiska over, "Only eight? You look older than that." Granted, she had no experience with this species, but furred races were nothing new to her. Had she realised Aiska's true age, she'd have blushed at being so rude.

"Sixteen?" Aiska was suprised - the spirit didn't even have colour in it's (her?) fur (sparse as that was), which people developed around five. That's old! "Andzai is sixteen! And I do not look old!"

I'm lucky Andzai's not here right now, she thought, He'd box my ears if he heard me saying something like that to a spirit!

"I'm sorry," she said sheepishly, her tail fluffing up in shame, "It's just I am eight. And a half. It's not that young."

Cristiona frowned, she was botching this first contact, and was clearly upsetting the native she was sitting across from. She stammered an apology of her own before frantically checking her PDA. Perhaps they measured time differently? Their numbers were in multiples of three? She knew the words and the definitions, be she was clueless as to the meaning.

The PDA offered little help. The orbital period of this planet was longer than Earth's, but she was too flustered to make the connection. "I... um... I guess I'm missing something here..." She frowned deeply, trying to figure out how to convey her confusion and get an answer. A difficult task with only a basic grasp of the language. Her red eyes lit up as she had an idea, "Perhaps we're counting differently..." She pointed towards Serai, "How old does she look to you? I'd say... um... about 30." She smiled sheepishly, "I know she doesn't have fur, but..." her voice just trailed off and she looked apologetic.

ooc: Kinda guessing her age, modify if needed.

"I don't know!" Aiska almost wailed. How was she supposed to tell? Thirty? People might, if they were lucky, live to the venerable age of twenty - but spirits weren't people, and some of the Ancestors had lived to the age of forty, back in the Firebird Times.

OOC: Somewhere about there.

"S-sorry... I didn't mean to upset you..." Cristiona backed away from Aiska, looking a little scared. She sighed heavily and looked down, "I'll... um... just leave you alone..." She cast her eyes around, looking for where she was supposed to sleep. She was too tired and too flustered to try and continue the conversation, and she'd just assume not upset Aiska any more. Those teeth looked sharp.

Aiska was thoroughly confused - what was it she'd said, or done, to upset the spirit shaman? Was it dangerous? Many spirits were, if offended, and corporeal spirits were more powerful than others.

She was saved by Andzai's return from outside - the older shaman examined the tableau intensely, but any confusion he might have was well-hidden.

"You and your chieftain are welcome to our rugs, honourable guests," he told Cristiona, and indicated where their sleeping-rugs lay heaped along one wall, near the tree. Woven from the winter coat of the tundra grazers, they were very thick and warm; Andzai, fresh from the outside cold, wasted no time in burying himself in a pile of them.

-----

It was very warm, covered in the alien rugs, but Serai couldn't sleep; every time she drifted off, someone elsewhere in the pile moved. Her finely honed paranoia was too acute to allow easy rest.

So sometime during the night, when she was jolted again from a drowsy sort of rest, she stared blankly up at the wooden carving of the Firebird above her head. It was quiet, save for the muted breathing of two aliens and one humanoid.

After a while, she blinked twice, switching on aeryaghrana-linked computers in a different galactic supercluster, and her visual augments flashed into existence; that was a tree (the programs couldn't distinguish between an alien "tree" and a true, Earth-born tree), those were tree materials, that was ...

Oh, my.

Searching through the piles of heavy rugs and befurred aliens, Serai found a human shoulder and shook Cristiona awake.

"You see that?" she asked, quietly and urgently, "The sort of rod-thing hanging underneath the wooden bird sculpture, among all the wooden ones? It's metal."

Cristiona looked more than a little sulky as she curled up on the blankets. It wasn't that she was usually such a tears-prone girl, it was more a large number of circumstances conspiring on her all at once, crushing her like a two ton heavy thing. Her tiredness, her temporarly dulled hunger, and her frustration at failing to grasp something as "simple" as years.

The realisation of just how far from home she was had been fully driven home by the natives. She deeply missed her mothers; the act of learning this new language only reminded her of when Anamaria was first teaching her Yiddish, or when she stunned her school-teacher by learning Latin in record time. At first the teacher accused her of downloading a language module, and demanded to see proof it was otherwise. Anamaria had hit the roof -- and her mother was the quiet mousey type -- and had read the teacher the riot act. "My daughter isn't just some computer that you can crack open and look at," she had yelled. Cristiona smiled at the memory, sniffling slightly. She really did miss her home.


When she was woken up by Serai, she was completely disoriented. She hadn't gone to sleep immediately, fretting and reviewing her PDA were to blame for that. She blinked at Serai with unfocused eyes, nightmares about being attacked by languages confusing her even more, "Huh... wha?" She shook her head and tried again in a more proper language, "What...?"

Her eyes finally focused and she looked at the metal rod. While she didn't have the cybernetics that Serai did, her enhancile eyes were able to see in low light, "S-so? Mom could tell you what it is, I can't..."

OOC Reminder: Anamaria's a metalurgist.

Serai growled inwardly; what use was this much-vaunted Hacker AI, really? About as much, probably, as ExSec's much-vaunted cyborg agent. Babysitting scientists was no Jane Bond plot, even if they were in a different supergalactic cluster.

"Never mind, then," she replied, "Go back to sleep. I'll take a closer look in the morning."

Cristiona blinked in confusion, but curled back up and quickly feel asleep again. Serai scared her a little, the woman had seemed so nice back on Earth, but seemed so cold here.

As the first rays of light reached over the horizon, Cristiona stirred and woke up. She rubbed her eyes as she looked around and promptly pulled out her PDA. Before long, she was reviewing the alphebet and common phrases, dearly hoping to avoid upsetting her hosts any more than she had already.

Serai was awake shortly after Cristiona, and the two aliens some time after that. Rummaging in her pack, she tossed the AI a MRE bar - granulated food product compressed into a heavy brick and wrapped in plastic.

"Enjoy your breakfast," she said. "It doesn't taste like much, but it's nutritious and it lasts up to a decade.

"Can you translate for me? I'd like to ask the shamans about that rod thing, and offer them some too."

Cristiona looked at the MRE curiously. It felt too dense to be food. "You sure it's edible?" She took a timid bite, Oy, and I thought matzo was nasty... She found herself wondering if 'lasts up to a decade' refered to how long it could be stored, or how long it took to digest. She managed a few more bites, deciding that she'd rather to some translating as opposed to continuing her breakfast.

She looked to Andzai, clearing her throught softly, "Um, my... er, the chieftain was wondering if you would be willing to answer a few questions."

"Certain," Serai replied. "That's quality geneered seaweed pulp. I find it works better dissolved into a sort of soup, but you can eat it solid."

-----

"Of course," Andzai replied. "We are honoured by your presence."

These spirits might be very odd, but they were also clearly highly powerful - their very corporeality attested to that. It was always better to stay on the good side of such beings.

The spirit shaman translated that for it's chieftain, who spoke back in that strange, ear-jarring language they used.

-----

"Ask him about the rod underneath the statue," Serai told Cristiona, "The metal one. I'd like to find out how they came by it, and what it is. And do offer them some of my rations; this is a hunter-gatherer society, and I hate to think what kind of strain we're putting on their food supplies."

Cristiona blinked at her, "Mmm... seaweed. Breakfast of champions..." She took a couple more bites. It really wasn't that bad, but it was far from a taste sensation.

She took a deep breath, closing her eyes and concentrating. This was where her grasp of the language was going to be put to the test. She'd hoped that she would have had a couple weeks before trying to act in an official capacity, but she wasn't running on her own schedule. Her grammar was likely completely out of line, but she had a good grasp of simple words, prefixes and suffixes. She might sound like the village idiot, but it was better than nothing.

She opened her eyes and started her translations, "First, we would like to thank you for your... hospitality. The Chieftan does not want to... ah... drain your food too much. As... remittance? No, as repayment, she offers some of her food." She took a few of the rations from Serai, removed their wrappers and offered them to Andzai. She smiled, "They are safe and... healthy. The Chieftan also has a question about one of the rods under one of your sculptures. The one that's made of..." She paused as she realised she didn't know the word for metal. Or steel. Or iron. She bit her lip briefly before continuing, "The one that isn't made of wood."

Andzai took the proffered foodstuffs, sniffing at them suspiciously. Unlike proper food, they smelt of nothing much at all - and, upon nibbling a small corner of one block, he found it tasted of nothing much at all, and was hard as rock. Who knew what sort of things spirits ate, or whether they were good things to eat? But one could not turn away gifts, and especially not gifts of food.

"That?" the shaman glanced protectively at the Firebird carving - but surely even spirits as powerful as these could not hope to overcome the immanent power within that. "It is a most holy relic - taken by us from the Red Gorges tribe three generations ago, and taken by them from the Bare Mountain tribe before their migration here, who had it from the Fallingthunder tribe in the summer lands, where such things are common - or so it is said. It is a Firebird."

Cristiona pursed her lips as she listened to the explination; it seemed the carving was a spoil of victory, and a prized one at that. "Fallingthunder tribe...?" The name was familiar. She pulled out her datapad and searched for it, finding that it had been mentioned when Andzai had been telling her of myth cycles. They were some quasi-mystical tribe of old, or something along those lines. Idiomatic translation was still somewhat touch-and-go, unfortunately. "So, the Fallingthunder tribe created that firebird?" She started to continue before remembering Serai, "One moment, please."

She turned to Serai, finding herself less and less fond of the woman, and translated Andzai's reply, adding, "I was just about to ask about where the 'Summer Lands' were."

Serai nodded - "Please do so, then," - but Andzai was already replying (and carefully hiding his astonishment at the question);

"One can't create a Firebird," he explained (struggling with the very question - how could one create a god? This was an insight to be contemplated later). "They are older than people, older than Ka-Ris. That is it's ... it's indwelling part, the immanent force."

Were these spirits perhaps new-born, to know so little? Would they become less corporeal with age? It would be interesting to see.

Cristiona looked back and forth, trying to follow both conversations without getting terribly confused. She nodded to Serai before turning to Andzai. She didn't want to get into a semantic debate on the making of the firebird. It was entirely possibly that Andzai thought even a sculpture of a pheonix couldn't be made. She decided to skip over this. Mythology could wait until she had a better grasp of the language. "Oh, okay. Ah... the chieftan is curious about the location of the 'Summer Lands'."

Andzai shrugged (apparently, that gesture was common to all bipeds). "Many months' travel North," he replied, "At the edge of the world. It is told that the Firebirds came from there, in the dawn times."

"I thought as much," Serai replied, once Cristiona had translated. "They've got some sort of contact with the equatorial tribes, then. Maybe they've got metallurgy of some kind up there. We'll have to look."

She moved closer to examine the "firebird"; the rod certainly looked golden - wasn't gold soft enough to work cold? She consulted her databases about it, and discovered that yes, gold was malleable.

The younger of the two shamans looked upset (or at least, Serai thought she looked upset - who could tell?) at her interest in the thing, and she carefully put her hands to her sides - she wasn't about to touch their sacred relic. Nobody wanted a holy war.

But her implants analysed the object, and informed her of something her eyes had missed.

"Ainra eka!" she exclaimed, astounded - "No wonder they think it's holy. It's a machined object!"

Cristiona shifted from foot to foot nervously, a little scared of Serai's enthusiasm for the Firebird. She new the natives would stand no chance against the powered armor guards outside, and she deeply hoped that Serai wouldn't judge the archeological find worth more than, well, she prefered to not think about it.

Finding her services not in need at the present, she sat back down on the skins, looking through her datapad and reviewing the language; it helped to take her mind off the Firebird: she didn't much care how technological or holy it was.

"How could this be?" Serai murmured to herself, brow wrinkled in thought. "Damnit, I'm just a grunt."

ExSec SpecialOp tsaRikhan >> Hypothetical situation. Supposing we discovered evidence of an extrasolar civilisation on Taiga, what would that do to our mission?

Chief Field Researcher keiSdengelá << There's a standardised response plan for that - locate artefacts for study, contain them, do preliminary non-invasive work to figure out if they're safe or valuable. The Star Command is ever watchful for opportunities to reverse-engineer things, you know - comes of the industrial revolution being kick-started by the Kymnari. This is a hypothetical?

ExSec SpecialOp tsaRikhan >> Let us suppose that it is a hypothetical, at present. Tse kha?

Chief Field Researcher keiSdengelá << : Eja tse. It would certainly be interesting if it were not, though - every sapient species we've come across to date has been contacted by a more advanced species sometime in it's history. There's a theory it's a cascade effect, set off by some original race of Great Old Ones, but that wouldn't hold up over these sorts of distances.

ExSec SpecialOp tsaRikhan >> Unless they had drives like ours. If the Treznorikh can invent them, I presume that the Researchers of the planet Zark can too. And "every sapient species to date" is what, two? The Xanadu kangaroos and the Kymnari?

Chief Field Researcher keiSdengelá << Three - we got the Kymnari. Four, including these cute fuzzy critters - but that's a hypothetical.

ExSec SpecialOp tsaRikhan >> It is.

Serai searched through the appropriate files until she came across the "standardised response plan" Ysuran had mentioned. Once you got through the legalese it was interesting reading ... especially the part which read all items of potential military or industrial value are to be obtained for further study, utilising appropriate force if necessary at the commanding officers' discretion. But it was just a plain golden rod, about a foot long and a centimeter across - nothing of "potential military or industrial value". Probably.

-----

"There are things which must be done today," Andzai commented to the spirit shaman, "Which we must do. You may accompany us, if you wish."

Cristiona largely ignored Serai. She, obviously, wasn't aware of the conversation, and certainly wasn't particularly interesting in Tsaraine's methods and protocols. Granted, that said protocols gave permission to wipe out the natives would have been highly distressing to her. In this case, ignorance certainly was bliss. With only Serai's mutterings to go off of, she figured she was largely on her own. Her 'handler' could survive without her, she figured. Still, one should be polite, "The Shaman is going to be performing some… er… ritual or tasks or something, and he's invited me. I'm going to go along, I'm sure you can get me if you need me."

She turned to Andzai and smiled, "I would like that very much, thank you."

Shaman's Hall, Round Lake Tribe Winter Settlement, Southern Hemiphere, Taiga IV

"What? Sure, go ahead. See what you can find out." Serai was clearly distracted, had little attention for Cristiona - her mind was trillions of lightyears away, on the far side of the universe.

Andzai looked at the two spirits, nodded - apparently satisfied - and moved around the hall, collecting several leather-wrapped bundles and his staff of office. With a nod to Aiska, he moved out of the hall. The trio of shamans set out for the forest.

Back in the hall, Serai stepped closer to the enigmatic golden thing, but didn't touch it.

ExSec SpecialOp tsaRikhan >> Ysuran?

Chief Field Researcher keiSdengelá << Eja?

ExSec SpecialOp tsaRikhan >> There's something I'd like you to look at, please.

Chief Field Researcher keiSdengelá << I thought there might be. What's it look like?

ExSec SpecialOp tsaRikhan >> Not much, truly - I'm wondering if you can discover any more about it than me. You are trained for it, after all. All I've got is analysis implants. Bring whatever you think you'll need, but non-invasive - the natives think it's a holy thing.

Chief Field Researcher keiSdengelá << Any truth to that?

ExSec SpecialOp tsaRikhan >> How would I know? Ysuran, for six hundred years the Kymnari kept a bottle of hydrogen in a shrine in their Citadel. People will venerate all sorts of things, even if those people are aliens.

Chief Field Researcher keiSdengelá << Point taken. I'll be right there.

True to his word, the Chief Field Researcher slipped into the Shaman's Hall a few minutes later, carrying an array of electronic gadgetry.

"Morning," he said.

"Good morning," Serai replied. "The other Researchers are holding up well?"

"Happy as bumblebees."

"Good to hear. Now, the thing is over here ..."

Ysuran examined it with the longest-field-tested instrument known to mankind, the Mark One Eyeball.

"Interesting," he pronounced. "You're right, it's definitely a machined object, and thus probably not native - the Taigans don't have any metallurgy beyond cold-worked gold. Let's see what else we can find out ..."

He unclipped a suprisingly small device from his belt. "You know the things nanoforges use to map something down to the molecular level?"

"Yes?"

"This is one of those."

"Really? I thought those took up most of a room."

"Most of them still do. But it's a recursive technology - nanoforges let us work on a molecular scale, shrink everything down an order of magnitude - including the nanoforges themselves. But what takes up most of that space is the manufacturing part of the nanoforge. This mapper is actually pretty shoddy compared to those, but it can give me a solid three-dimensional model of something to about as small as people can make - make without a nanoforge, that is.

"... And in this case, it isn't good enough, because what you have here appears to be high-quality computronium plated in gold."

"You're joking, surely."

"Now why should I do that? That's what the mapper tells me. I'd need a full-scale nanoforge to be certain, though. There's one up on the 'Sukal."

"Ysuran, I'm not sure I can justify making off with what these people think is a holy relic like that. Curiousity is all very well, but even if we had it mapped right down to the individual electrons we couldn't read it, and even if we could read it we'd have no chance of understanding the programming language. Assuming there's even anything on it, and that that anything is of any worth. Not to mention that instigating a holy war would not go down well with our superiors."

"There is that," Ysuran admitted. "Well, if you find some way ... I won't be far."

Forest, outside the Winter Settlement, Southern Hemisphere, Taiga IV

The woodlands had almost the atmosphere of a park, with tall trees well spaced apart. Handing down wisdom from the Firebird Times, Andzai explained to Cristiona that this was because malignant spirits burned the forest every handful of High Summers. The fires cleared away the saplings and the brush (and anybody unfortunate enough to be caught out in them) but left the greater trees untouched; those ones were protected by the ghosts which roosted in their tops.

It was said that on Ka-Siu the spirits had burned the forests only once a generation, the conflagrations burning even the greatest trees; ghosts on Ka-Siu lived under the ground.

They had many different names for the forest, but the one Andzai used most often was "the green light"; at this time of day the sunlight came slanting down through the leaves, lighting the forest floor a brilliant green.

At the base of a grand old tree they halted; someone, far back in time, had cut narrow hand- and foot- holds in the gnarled bark, and now the tree had grown back in scarred ridges leading halfway up the massive trunk. Andzai handed around his burdens (he couldn't very well carry them all up the tree - he'd need his hands free to climb). Cristiona got a few small parcels, while Aiska took a much larger, heavier pack. The shaman carried his staff himself, of course.

Then the two natives were off, clawing their way up the trunk. Their species had evolved in forests not unlike these, and they were well accustomed to it.

Cristiona was rather less designed for scrambling up trees. She watched them climb, hoping to pick up some pointers and desperately wishing she had claws. Or even sturdy nails. Hers, she noticed, were rather short as she'd been chewing on them the whole trip over.

Swallowing her nerves, she slowly, carefully started to climb the tree, her hands desperately trying to keep their grip on the ridges, her shoes doing a good enough job of keeping their traction. Right as she was thinking that she had it made, she felt her fingers slip and with a yelp she slipped, bounced against the tree, and landed on the ground.

She sniffled, fighting back tears as she looked over her scraped hands, and gently poked at the bump on her forehead. She winced a little, that'll leave a mark... she also sighed as she saw the shredded knees on her pants. Pretty much a loss there.

Not wanting to make even more of a fool out of herself, she started climbing again, wincing slightly as the bark rubbed against her tender hands.

Shaman's Hall, Round Lake Tribe Winter Settlement, Southern Hemiphere, Taiga IV

Somewhere on this planet, Ysuran thought, Or in orbit, or on one of the moons, there will be some sort of additional evidence of extrasolar visitation. No civilisation is going to drop off a single stick of highly advanced computronium and leave nothing else at all. I just have to find it.

That, however, was easier said than done - if there was a second "Firebird", it would show up from orbit as little as this one did. And after X amount of time, evidence could deteriorate. The computronium had clearly been built to last, but Ysuran was too suspicious of one free lunch to expect another.

Chief Field Researcher keiSdengelá >> Captain?

Captain-Commandant tsaShan << Eja? How go things on the ground?

Chief Field Researcher keiSdengelá >> Uh ... well, they go well. We've made some interesting discoveries. I have a request, though.

Captain-Commandant tsaShan << Oh?

Chief Field Researcher keiSdengelá >> I think we've got a prior contact situation. I'd like a detailed orbital scan of the planet by our Set- and Nut-sats for additional evidence.

Captain-Commandant tsaShan << ... You know, for once I would like to find a sapient species which hasn't already been visited by the local interstellar missionaries or pranksters or imperialists or whatever. What do I tell Butterfly to look for?

Chief Field Researcher keiSdengelá >> <shrug analogue> Signs of industrial technology use will do to start. I'm operating on assumptions based on one bit of computronium here.

Captain-Commandant tsaShan << I'll see what I can do.

Forest, outside the Winter Settlement, Southern Hemisphere, Taiga IV

As the spirit shaman cried out the two natives were instantly on the alert - was it razorhawks? A ghost eagle? Or just a clumsy corporeal spirit?

Aiska stopped on a branch a meter or so down from Andzai, and a whispered conversation ensued.

"Master, I bow to your knowledge - but this seems like no kind of spirit you've told me of."

"Because, mine apprentice, it is no kind of spirit I have heard of," Andzai replied. "I think ... I think it may not be a spirit at all."

"But that doesn't make sense! What else could it - she - Cristiona - be?"

"If I find out, I'll be sure to tell you. Now hand me the drum and go down to help her - the poor dear seems to be having trouble with our tree."

Aiska passed the large wrapped package she carried up to Andzai, and slipped back down the tree-trunk to where Cristiona struggled. Clinging to the trunk and branches with one hand, she extended the other to Cristiona.

"You'll get a better grip if you shift your left hand up and to the right a handspan," she advised. "Got that? Reach up and take my hand - we'll have you up in no time at all."

Cristiona looked a combination of miserable and deeply embarassed, taking both Aiska's hand and her advice, finally getting her footing and slowly climbing her way up. She softly thanked Aiska as she made her way up to the branch, looking guiltily at them, "Not used to climbing trees, I guess..."

"You don't have trees?" Aiska asked; that was suprising. The only place there wasn't trees was down in the tundra ... but Skrzchyenzi had said he'd run across them in the tundra, a few days before they'd arrived at the settlement. Maybe they lived in the permafrost bogs to the South?

They'd freeze over every winter, of course, but this was summer. She'd have to ask Andzai about it.

"Around the trunk now a bit - careful, that branch won't support your weight." Aiska poked it wiith a booted foot and the branch in question fell away, rotten through. "To your right there should be a peg in the trunk - take hold and swing yourself down, and then we're there."

Although they grew to far more impressive height and girth, trees on Taiga were much the same as those on Earth; only the outer layers were living wood, the interior being dead supporting wood. In this case, the tree had rotted from the inside out - while thanks to it's extraordainary size it was still very solid, there was a sizeable hollow in the middle of the tree.

It might be sizeable enough for two people, but it was cramped with three; sitting cross-legged, Andzai shuffled around to make room for his apprentice and the "spirit", and placed the unwrapped drum between them. Finely crafted, it boomed heavily as he tapped it with a finger.

"Honoured colleague - Cristiona? Have you the packages I gave to you?"

Christiona gave a weak smile: how was she supposed to explain a city to Aiska, let alone a sprawling megalopolis? Skyscrapers and hover cars would be right out, too. Bending the truth only slightly -- there were trees in the parks, after all -- "Well, we have them, I just never... um... actually climbed them."

She smiled in thanks as Aiska knocked away a thin branch, she'd be intending to use it as a place to stand. Moving slowly and purposefully, she followed Aiska's instructions to the letter, taking her time and moving quite slowly before, finally, reaching, well, whereever it was she was supposed to be.

She was thankful that she was a slight girl, as she was able to wedge herself in with reasonable comfort, pulling her legs up under herself. She blinked at Andzai, falling off the tree had made her forget completely about what she was supposed to be carrying. She breathed a sigh of relief as she extracted them, she would have been humiliated if she had left them down below. She set them down next to the drum, nodding and smiling a little, "Yes, right here."

"Very good." Andzai took the packages from her and opened them - atop the drum, for lack of any other space. Revealed was a mound of granulated purple powder and wrinkled, dried lichen of some indeterminate hue.

"Zna and szerzy, of course," Andzai commented, as if the meanings of those words should have been self-evident. No doubt to an Ailuridine shaman they were.

He divided the lichen into three, and took one third into his mouth; Aiska did likewise. They followed that with a pinch - a very small pinch - of the purple powder. The remainder was left for Cristiona.

Cristiona was pleasantly surprized at the casualness of the whole affair. It was important, clearly, but at least the drum wasn't some divine relic that would have been spoiled by having the lichen on it. She filed away the names of the powder and lichen, making a note to look into it later. She was still a long way from proper nouns.

She was reasonably certain that she was about to start hallucinating. While her avatar was flesh and blood, she still had more control over it than the average human. One of the things she could do was turn of her body's ability to interact with foreign bodies, in other words, things like being drunk or stoned (or pregnant, for that matter) was entirely optional.

Of course, being young and mildly impulsive, as well as wanting to more fully experience the culture meant that there was no way she was going to mute the effects of the lichen and powder. She popped the lichen in her mouth, doing a remarkable job of not crinkling her nose at the taste and texture. She then took a small pinch of the powder and waited for further instruction. Or for huge bats to start swooping and diving. Either or.

Andzai swept the leather wrappings from the surface of the drum, which boomed as his fingers skittered across it. He let them stay there, tapping out a rhythmless, staccato sound. Aiska joined him a moment later, followed by Cristiona.

"You," he began (using an old form of the second person plural, one now reserved for communication with the dead). With the sacrament in his blood it was hard to concentrate on the proper words. "You who came before. You who have gone. You who carried us on blazing wings! You, Ktolowa. You, Najleni. You, Ruchleczy ..."

There were over a thousand named among the First, a list learned by rote long ago; he heard, vaguely, his apprentice follow a second behind, and Cristiona a moment after that. Perhaps, being whatever she was, she had different ghosts; perhaps he would ask.

"You, whom we do not know and do not name," Andzai finished, in respect for the multitude of unnamed First Ones. "All of you! Be here with us."

And they came to the call, crowding the tiny space still further. Always they looked different, and he noted their appearance today. One had to remember such things.

"There are things we would know," he continued. "There are things we would all know."

OOC: Check telegrams, please!

(Kids, don't try this at home - I can't condone altering your state of conciousness. And ghosts on Earth will eat your soul out through your nose. You have been warned)

Eridhinrako y Kfosi, Sianvasintar System, Former Kymnari Empire Space

The 'Kfosi rested in a system it very well might have been built in, seven hundred years ago; but it's Imperial builders would not have recognised the former troopship. The Kymnari survivors, and the Tsarainese Star Command, had made substantial modifications for their purposes.

Today it carried the largest nanoforge Tsaraine had ever constructed, a boxy thing over a hundred meters long, mounted on it's hull, and running through that box was a ring over a kilometer across - a Kymnari arivaik gate system.

Sianvasintar had been on the outskirts of the Empire, touched not at all by the Godwar which had brought down the remainder of the Kymnari; it's gate was, miraculously, intact - they'd discovered it when an error in their interpretation of the Kymnari gate software had rerouted a Loki to Sianvasintar. When all the other gates had been damaged or destroyed, Sianvasintar had been left, unable to connect to anything.

Then the Tsarainese had constructed their own gates from the undamaged portions of others, powered them up, and had a link between Sol and Tenebris - and also, to their sudden suprise, to Sianvasintar.

The Kymnari in Sianvasintar had been doomed by a collapsing terraforming project and insufficient resources; the last were only decades dead. So the gate would go to the Sahel system, where an Earth-like world waited; but first it was run, section by fifty-meter section, through the nanoforge. The Ascendancy would have a third gate - and, thanks to the same mapping technology which made antimagnetic core manufacture possible, many more to come.

Twisting Coast, Continent Rusalka (Continent #4) Sahel Ai, Sahel System (System #267)

Next to Tenebris, Sahel Ai was the most hospitable world the Ascendancy had discovered. It wasn't very.

"I keep wondering how people are going to survive here," Kterrin Eidoradh said. "It's just too ... too fucking hot!"

Garha shrugged, and managed to reaffix her hat with one hand while turning the soil corer with the other. "The Arabs manage, don't they? Talk to Scolopendra or something."

"Yes, but - look. These cores do not look promising. Not at all. This topsoil is fragile as hell - start farming here and you'll have erosion, salinisation, and all sorts of woes within a generation. Like Australia but worse. Like the Sahel, in fact."

Kterrin waved around him, emphasising the planet's name.

"Kterrin, you're cute, but sometimes you're a bit stupid," she told him. "The only places we have substantial topside farming are the Katai Archipelago and parts of Tenebris, and all of those were selected for their soils. Here we'll just do as we always do - hydroponics. It works on Mars, and Mars is a cold, radioactive, arid, Antarctic wasteland. It works in the Mother Country, and that was even worse.

"Tenebris is a planning anomaly anyway - they designed those five-million-person cities before they realised the size of the population problem. They need to build an arcology or two - it'd be a better place for it than Mars or Luna.

"Here, well, I'd say you'd be able to support a billion people or so on Ai."

He grinned. "Are you willing to bet on that?"

"Sure, why not?"

Asteroid T/AA-054, Tenebris/Moon L5 Point, Tenebris System

The megaprojects weren't restricted to the Solar tekhati; one of the biggest was on the far end of the arivaika, in Tenebrian orbit.

There might be nothing to propogate noise, but the iron-dark rock underfoot vibrated constantly. You could feel it in your bones, a constant shaking, while you worked, while you slept ... the project was not a popular one, but then most of it was automated.

At one end, massive machines chewed through the rock, carving out cylindrical chambers a thousand meters long and five hundred across; at the other, an even larger refinery complex took the rubble and pulled every metal of value from it, as fast as spaceplanes could ferry the stuff to a holding orbit at the L4 point. Useless rubble was thrown sunwards by mass drivers. It was the fastest asteroid mine the Ascendancy had ever operated.

The frantic speed at which they worked chewed men up and spat them out, dead or maimed or burnt out, and they said that Command was trying to deal with the population problem directly. But the blood money was good, and the pay better.

And all that was going on at one end of a series of gaping circular holes; the far end had more human oversight. Forges larger than cathedrals cast steel ribs, and men in powered industrial suits moved them into place. Wires were laid, first for the temporary systems needed while they worked, then for the permanent ones. The Ascendancy's first true shipyard was taking shape.

OOC: Stuff happens unrelated to Taiga all the while.

Cristiona swayed to some brand of inaudible music, the drugs having a slightly different affect on her it seemed.

The shapes were insubstantial and haunting, fading in and out of reality as they swirled abour her, never staying in one place or forming any recognizable form. Andzai's voice faded into the background as the forms blackened and turned more sinister; lacerations opening and closing on their bodies; blood oozing, yet never falling.

The swirling horrors regarded her with icy dispassion, as if they would have come here regardless and that she was not only beneath their contempt but also beneath their notice. They grew in number as their substantiality grew, blasphemous horrors that neither care for her or her companions.

She gasped softly as they finally took notice of her, their heads tilting as they looked her over like beings appraising an antique or curiosity. Her eyes wildly faded in and out of focus, murmuring softly in English, her brain (and processors) trying desperately to fuse what it knew was possible and what her eyes were telling her existed right in front of her. Even as she stammered nonsense, her mind reached out, crossing impossible distances to her core.

Normally, she distained simply downloading languages, prefering to spend her time actually learning them like a normal person. At this point her personal preferences where ignored and the data streamed into her mind, "Ia t'kk'hn, fthgn, k'kkr'hai..." Her murmurings grew stranger as she slipped into the gutteral language and the drug fully overwhealmed her senses.

Andzai didn't know what Cristiona was saying, and presently he had other questions to ask.

"We would know ..." he began, and fumbled for the proper words. The drum bespoke thunder, and the ghosts around them shivered. "We would know what the future holds."

"Chaos," they answered him with long-dead tongues. "Uncertainty. All things turn, and seasons change."

"We go ... we go soon into the broad lands of the South, to hunt in the Summer. The Night River and Blue Spiral go South also; what forsee you of them?"

"Into the Summer you shall go, for a little while - Ka-Ris turns and all is uncertain. Fear not the River of Night, for yours is the fire that carried us across it. Go forth, and be not afraid."

Good, that was good, or so he thought. It would take thought later to tug the strands of meaning from their speech, when his mind was not clouded with zna and szerzy.

Across from him, Aiska babbled nonsense syllables, harsh and fricative deep in her throat. Andzai heard, almost, the speech of Cristiona's chieftain in them (the ghosts shifted suddenly, looking more like that stranger, or as much like her as they could - it would not be possible outside the calling, surely). The First answered her, and although Andzai could not understand, Aiska nodded and smiled at their words.

"And where then shall we go?" she asked suddenly, in words he could understand, but the ghost replied in sounds stranger still;

"R'lyeh wgah'nagl fgtagn! Uakk'hnha-k'hn."

Cristiona spoke to them in those same uncouth sounds, and both women and ghosts conversed. Andzai let them go on; he would ask them later, if they recalled what it was they said.

Cristiona really had no idea what was happening anymore, her mind had retreated into itself in a desperate attempt to block out what she was seeing, even as her processors vainly tried to tell her that it wasn't real. Unfortunately, something in the zna and szerzy resisted her body's efforts to subdue it. While they may have been mild hallucinogens for the Ailuridine, they were quite potent to Cristiona's body. Definately not something that she should repeat any time soon.

Her eyes widened at the ghosts' responce to Aiska, her mind slightly translating for her, but unable to think properly because of the drugs. She called out to the larger of the appirations, "K'tah! Iä, ph'nglui mglw'nafh!" It seemed that she was rather more disturbed by the ghosts than Aiska was. "G'hrakk ngul'k'k'un!" She gestured towards the two Ailuridine before crying out, "Iä Shub-Niggurath! Kraaath'k, n'gai mglw'nafh!"

OOC: A note; everything the ghosts say is within the drug-addled ears of the beholder. In this case, Aiska is babbling psuedo-Sekhel because she heard Serai speaking it, and psuedo-Xothic because she heard Cristiona speaking it (Andzai is "hearing" the ghosts speak it for the same reason). Anyway, on with the story!

With a start, Andzai realised that the ghosts were fading, disappearing - the substances which allowed him to see and summon them were thinning*. His head pounded louder than the drum, the blood in his ears drowning out the others.

Aiska and Cristiona were still speaking, probably still seeing. He would ask them when they recovered; for now he located the water-skin and took a hefty gulp. Most of the water soaked his coat.

"But where shall I meet you, if there are no trees there?" Aiska asked the First. "In the naked lands, where do you rest?"

The myriad not-quite-people First smiled benevolently, showing teeth like fir cones** and tongues like leaves.

"Everywhere there is something, and there we are," they replied.

"I will show you, when we get there," Cristiona told her***.

Aiska smiled; "I would like that," she said.

"Knuagh'hn ek'kwühna ngahl-au eo," Cristiona replied, and Aiska realised suddenly (as if from a dream, startling herself lucid) that she could not understand what Cristiona said. The First were slipping away, and her head felt as if it had been trodden upon by a huluk.†

Wordlessly, Andzai passed her the water-skin. They waited for the First to depart entirely, to go back to the treetops; but they must be in quite animated conversation with Cristiona, to judge by her replies.

OOC2: *Actually, they're breaking down in his bloodstream, being quite fast-acting. In Ailuridines, that is.
** Not Terrestial fir cones, of course. Their Taigan equivalents, present due to the miracle of parallel evolution.
*** Aiska thinks this is what Cristiona is saying; Cristiona probably thinks she's saying something quite different.
† Huluk; a large, ornery, omnivorous ampbibian-oid living in Taiga's many waterways.
Fear the great OOC-beast!

Cristiona was not so lucky: the drugs were still rampaging through her body, and she started to quiver as her attempted dismissal failed miserably. As if on autopilot, her fingers continued to tap on the drum. To her eyes, one of the ghosts was holding her wrists, not letting her pull back; it seemed they weren't done with her yet.

She continued to argue with the formless spawn in Xothic, her commanding tone fading and becoming more pleading. To the Ailuridines it must have been a confusing sight. Either the First Ones didn't like her, or her First Ones were considerably less friendly. In either case, she was clearly losing control, no longer just speaking in Xothic, but a strange glossolalia combining all the languages she knew, which made for a very unnatural sound indeed, especially as portions of words would be understandable, but the large majority of it wasn't intelligable to anybody at all; especially when she slipped into computer code and other non-organic languages.

Eventually shuddered violently, cried out, and collapsed in a heap. While it would seem to be the stress of talking to the First Ones, the reality was the her processor had finally surged into control and shut her body down so that it could sort everything out. Of course, the Ailuridine wouldn't -- couldn't -- understand such a thing. She was, however, breathing, which would probably suffice for them for now.

Aiska gave Andzai a worried glance; the shaman shrugged, as if to say I know as little as you.

The younger Ailuridine ground her teeth in worry, and eventually dared to reach across and shake Cristiona by the shoulder. No response. Taking her jaw in one hand and the water-skin in the other, she attempted to get Cristiona to drink some of it. The water dribbled down her chin.

Cristiona was alive, at least, but that seemed the limit of the good news.

"Master," she wailed, "What's wrong with her? What should we do?

Andzai shrugged; he had no idea whatsoever. Whatever Cristiona and her compatriots were, they couldn't be spirits. "All is uncertain," he replied finally. "We wait, I suppose."

Normally, an enhancile wouldn't be affected in the slightest by natural drugs such as what Cristiona had injested; however, she was definately not a normal enhancile. Her processors had suppressed her body's natural filtration systems, allowing the drugs to course through her body. By the time it realised that the drugs were completely incompatable with her physiology, it was too late to bow out gracefully, which was why she was in the pseudo-comotose state she was currently in.

With her conscious systems shut down, the higher brain gave way to the lizard brain; in this case, her processor stopped trying to be in control, and just let her automatic systems take over. As her liver and kidneys were now allowed to function properly, her blood was quickly stripped of the toxins, her system cleaning itself out with remarkable speed.

After only a few minutes, she stirred and murmured softly. As she came back 'online', she opened her eyes, trying to focus on the world around her, speaking in English, "What happened...?"

"I think she's waking up," Aiska said, and leaned over to take a closer look. Awakening to the sight of an Ailuridine's copper-and-silver facial fur looming close in one's vision must surely be an interesting experience.

"What happened?" Aiska asked, unwittingly echoing Cristiona. "Are you all right?"

OOC: Bleah, short.

Aiska looming face did indeed give Cristiona a bit of a start and she yelped softly, scooting away a little before remembering where she was, along with the fact that she didn't really have anywhere to scoot to.

She rubbed her head a little, finally focusing on the two Ailuridines, "I... er..." she shook her head, starting over in their language, "I, um, don't think the zna and szerzy agreed with my system..." She rubbed her temples, a little afraid to describe the shapes she had seen, especially since her companions seemed to think the First Ones were friendly.

"I have never heard of the First doing such things before," Andzai replied, "But then I had never heard of such things as yourself before. All things are possible. You are ... better now? We should not linger here overlong, now our work is done - I am sure we will all feel better to be out in the air again."

Aiska helped Cristiona out of the hollow in the tree and back down it's trunk with exaggerated care, followed by Andzai with the drum and the packages of zna and szerzy. It was indeed much more pleasant in the cool forest breeze. Andzai sat at the base of the tree, catching his breath; he was not so young as he had been, after all. Aiska handed him the water-skin, and he drank deeply before passing it to Cristiona.

Cristiona smiled weakly, "I... I don't know what to say..." She nodded in responce to his questions, standing up on somewhat shaky legs, leaning on Aiska a little, and making near constant use of her help getting down the tree.

The fresh air helped to clear her head a little, and she felt better being out of the tree. The memories of her hallucinations were still fresh in her mind, but being outside of where it happened helped greatly. She took the water-skin from Andzai and took a few drinks from it, her system killing any potentially harmful bacteria, now that it was being allowed to do its job. She handed the water-skin to Aiska, whispering her thanks to the younger Ailuridine.

"I am sorry it happened," Aiska whispered back, taking the water-skin. "We didn't know, I swear it!"

Andzai pricked up an ear at their whispered conversation, but didn't seem to mind.

"Well," he said, "If everyone is up to it, we should return. It isn't yet high enough in the Summer to remain for long in the open unprepared."

He stood up (a little shakily himself), leaning on his staff.

Cristiona nodded to Aiska, giving her a little smile, "I believe you." She looked a little concerned Andzai and indicated the packages and the drums, "Would you like my help carrying things? I'm feeling better now."

Regardless of his responce, she would follow the two Ailuridine back to the make-shift village, matching there pace, half lost in thought about what happened, and simply watching her companions, still enthralled with them and their culture, hoping she hadn't ruined things with her little 'freak out'.

Sensor Operations Core, Kash'haiko Sukal, Orbit of Taiga IV

From the Sensor Operations Core, Serene Cloud Butterfly could command the operations of dozens of Geb, Nut, and Set-class satellites, the massive banks of passive sensors on the 'Sukal's hull, and it's extensive suite of active sensors.

So it was irksome that the SOC was relegated so little physical space; it was squeezed (almost literally - certainly the door-frame regulated access to those below a certain girth) between a cargo hold and one of the xenoarchaeology laboratories. And usually it had two operators, but Tenoch was down at the Southern Icecap base. It gave Butterfly a little more room to stretch, and the opportunity to turn up the volume.

Tenoch had complained about her choice of music - Butterfly's tastes ran primarily to the kmolb-etaj played on E Anlabj's indigenous broadcasts. Tenoch's never strayed from what he called the "golden age" of Ekatorik folk - songs, she'd learned (it was hard to avoid learning, when you shared office space with an enthusiast like Tenoch) from a decade ago, when the pastoral hicks in the "big city" of Rakenno had adopted seemingly every dirtiest aspect of urban Ekatorik culture, and made songs about it.

All in all, it was a good thing Tenoch was dirtside, operating the micro-UAVs and smartdust. But there were good things to be said for him; he wasn't a Researcher, at least. KeiSdengelá's project had been taking time from more legitimate surveys, and yielded not a drop of results - aside from the Tsarainese at the Icecap and the village, there was nary a sign of industry - visible from orbit, at least. If there was some, it didn't exceed the heat of a pottery kiln, and made no ecological impact. So it probably didn't exist.

Forest, outside the Winter Settlement, Southern Hemisphere, Taiga IV

Aiska looked at Andzai, who shook his head - the shaman had the drugs, and his apprentice had the drum. There was nothing else to carry.

Returning to the village was a much more subdued affair than their leaving it; Andzai hobbled along with the aid of his staff, deep in contemplation of what the First had told him. Aiska offered Cristiona her shoulder, and tried fitfully to talk to her, but trailed off at Cristiona's distraction.

The village was a hive of activity; natives were busy packing for the journey South, and the Researchers were busy watching them. The "golems" had cracked open their power armour for fresh air and clean water, to the great suprise and delight of the ailuridines; fuzzy children scampered around them excitedly.

Commander arTain was reciting for them a traditional Ktraizirha tale, full of blood and revenge and convoluted kinship ties; since they could hardly understand her, it was unlikely to turn them into bloodthirsty maniacs.

Cristiona's distraction was rather absorbing, she barely registered Aiska's offer, even though she did accept it. Her status was rather like a culturally illerate person taking LSD for the first time. She couldn't help but replay the events over in her head -- even though she would just assume forget them. She knew they ghosts weren't real, but at the same time she knew they were. She chewed on her lip as she tried to make sense of the whole thing; it was like a dream that was so real that you wouldn't be surprized if the waking world was the fake one. She half expected to have cuts or scars on her skin from the experience. Thankfully, the only wounds she bore were from falling off the tree.

She didn't really even snap out of it as they returned to the settlement. She vaguely noticed the guards in power armor being pounced by furry children, but it didn't hold her focus very long. Neither did arTain's story of blood and war -- it registered little more than a half murmured comment about exaggerating.

Eventually, sitting around the fire, she realised that she couldn't afford to continue obsessing over the events: she was the only one who could talk to both peoples. She closed her eyes briefly and her eyelids flickered as if in REM sleep for a moment as she performed a core dump and quarentine. Her server could mull things over while she slept.

Serai scowled to see Cristiona's appearance; where had the natives taken here, what had they done to render her so solomnescent? How had she gained the scratches on her arms, the rip in her trousers? As the appointed security officer for this mad expedition, Serai expected, and was expected, to know these things - and right now the only person who could explain seemed more than half dead.

The younger native bristled, clearly sensing her upset, and Serai made an effort to rein it in. If this mission went down the tubes, it would be no fault of her own.

So she sighed, and sat down by the fire; the younger one - Aiska, that was her name - moved closer to Cristiona, almost protective. Serai would have laughed if she hadn't known better.

"Come now," she said (in Sekhel, lacking any language which might be more comprehensible to the alien), "I don't bite."

Aiska gave her a blank look.

OOC: And now I'm to bed. Seeya tomorrow!

Cristiona had been sitting sullenly, looking down at her hands, trying to stop her fretting and simply leave things to her core. She looked up, looking between Aiska and Serai and back again. She rubbed her eyes, and sighed softly. She first turned to Aiska, "It's okay, I trust Serai. You don't have to worry about her." Serai, of course, being untranslatable.

Turning to Serai, she smiled weakly, switching to Sekhel, "I'm okay, just a little sore. They didn't attack me or anything. I... um... I'm not so good at climbing trees... everything's fine." She looked at Serai, her eyes imploring, "Please don't be mad at them."

Interlude: A Landmark Case. City Eight, South Avalon, Tenebris Prime

The Tsarainese justice system was notoriously partisan, tilted sharply towards the government, and lacking most of the baggage guaranteeing impartiality one found in other courts; there were, however, occasional exceptions.

Today the Judicators of City Eight were in session, their tables covered with over four hundred years of legal history.

"You know, I'm not sure that this is actually illegal as such," Arzhan Ezhkteli said. "It's just never happened before. But the Minimalist interpretation of the Articles of Revolution tells us that it may have been what the Founders intended."

"The Minimalist interpretation as a political theory is not supported by the state," Sarindt replied, "And be assured, a pro hominem judgement in this case will be a political and not a judicial matter. Since the founding of the modern Commonwealth, nobody has been allowed to simply slip harness and run off like this!"

"We do allow some emigration," Arzhan pointed out, "But that is not at issue here. What Esar Arvasz proposes is to quite voluntarily forfeit a good portion of his legally allowed amenities - which can only reduce the weight upon the economy. Formerly, it wasn't an issue because the only way to simultaneously survive and forfeit your amenities was to emigrate, at which point the emigrant ceases to be our problem.

"Today, however, we find ourselves with an entire planet mostly empty, and after it hits maximum population it will still be mostly empty. People like our Esar Arvasz can exist quite comfortably on the fringes of it through their own efforts, and so the question comes up. That Arvasz and his compatriots are back-to-nature revertionists is not at issue, because likewise that too is a uniquely Tenebrian phenomenon.

"As for prior precedent, the Articles of Revolution may or may not support it; though I'll have you remember that "the modern Commonwealth" began with a party coup against the Compatriots. But it is enshrined in our labour laws; the provision of amenities is conditional upon working towards their provision. The amenities and necessities are legally allowed, not legally required, and there is currently nothing saying that Esar Arvasz cannot voluntarily forfeit them if he thinks he can do better himself."

"Dangerously Minimalist," Sarindt said. "Curse it, Arzhan, we need a political officer. You can subject him to your prior precedents and appeals to historicity."

Winter Settlement, Southern Hemisphere, Taiga IV, Taiga System (86 lightyears from Tenebris)

Aww, puppy-dog eyes, Serai thought. She didn't much like puppies. "I tripped". Oh yes, I believe that one.

But it was a time-honoured excuse in Security, where cameras could be subverted or spoofed, and Serai found herself accepting it despite her mistrust.

"Understood, Specialist," she replied. "Never fear, I'm not "mad" at anyone.

"Oh," she added, "I believe Researcher keiSdengelá wanted to talk to you about something relating to his studies. Probably quite a few of them do, so ... when you're ready. They can wait if it's needful."

Cristiona blinked, not sure if Serai actually believed her or not. It seemed painfully obvious from where she was sitting of course. An attacker wouldn't have scraped the palms of her hands, after. Hell, there was probably bits of bark in her hands anyway. She sighed softly, deciding it wasn't worth it. If nothing else, their militaristic ways meant they were less like to randomly change their course of action so she wasn't too worried about the natives. "No, no... I can answer their questions. I don't have to go back to the ship or anything, do I?" Assuming that all the researchers were on planet, she continued, "Just let me explain to Aiska."

She turned to her furry companion, smiling a little as she forumlated what she was going to say. It still took work, after all, and she could feel the tension between Aiska and Serai. "One of our companions has a few questions for me, probably about your language. I shouldn't be gone too long, and then maybe you could tell me more about the First Ones."

"Everyone who could possibly need to talk to you is down here," Serai said. "If they're spaceside, they can wait until the trip back."

ExSec Special Op tsaRikhan >> Okay, she's on her way - you can pop the question. But be careful - she seems shaken up over something, and I don't know what.

Chief Field Researcher keiSdengelá << Understood.

ExSec Special Op tsaRikhan >> Good.

Aiska raised her eyebrows* in the Ailuridine equivalent of a smile**.

"I would be happy to," she replied, "Though Andzai can tell you much more."

KeiSdengelá was waiting outside the Shaman's Hall, brimming with a kind of nervous energy almost like a "sugar high". He jittered.

"Hello!" he said, "I'm Ysuran keiSdengelá - call me Ysuran, please - and you must be Cristiona ..." his rapid chatter stumbled for a second or two as he tried to recall her surname. "I'm very pleased to meet you and I would be most honoured if you could answer a few questions I have regarding the indigenous religion here if you don't mind of course ..."


OOC:
* Okay, so in this case "eyebrows" equals "small patches of skull with longer than average fur, distinguished primarily by white spots above the eyes".
** Ailuridine facial musculature is composed rather differently to that of humans - hence they cannot "smile" in the normal sense. Smiling as a gesture of friendliness is a peculiarity restricted to the primates (or possibly even only some primate species, I'm not sure). It's probably genetic.

Cristiona blinked a little, chewing on her lip slightly. Clearly, she hadn't given much thought lately to leaving. It caused several emotions to well up in her, both joy at being able to see her family again, and sadness at leaving this planet -- and its people -- which she was growing rather attached to. "The trip back... right..." She nodded to Aiska as she wandered off, simply smiling as a reply.

KeiSdengelá startled her as he immediately started speaking almost too quickly for her to keep up with. She was used to people speaking quickly -- it was still quite common in the Hack. KeiSdengelá's speech, on the other hand, was like a jokulhaups, threatening to overwhelm her. "I... I... um... I don't know their whole mythcycle, I'm just a linguist, but... um... okay?"

"Excellent!" Ysuran exclaimed. "Shall we sit down? I hardly want to keep you standing about too long!

"Now, what I'm interested in is what they call a "Firebird" - that golden rod hanging in the hall there, specifically where it comes from and how it got there. Because, you see," he continued in a burst of enthusiasm, "It's really a quite advanced piece of alien technology, and of course everyone wants to know if there are spacefaring aliens in the neighbourhood, because they can't be from here - apparently there's nothing to support it. An advanced civilisation on Taiga, that is."

OOC: Really? I looked in the Mirriam-Webster Online and the American Heritage Dictionary, and Google gave me a record company and a Magic: The Gathering card.

Cristiona nodded mutely, sitting where Ysuran indicated, "Um... okay..." She listened to him ramble on for a bit before frowning. Patting her pockets, she found her datapad which she pulled out and reviewed, "Well... um..." She glanced around, frowning, "Let's go inside..."

Stepping into the Shamen's Hall, she founder herself a place to sit in the corner where she wasn't likely to be seen by any of the natives. She pulled a small plug from the datapad, brushed her white hair aside, and plugged it into the back of her neck, "Since I didn't understand anything when Andzai first started talking, I recorded everything," she explained. "I haven't had a chance to review since then though. I don't want to freak them out; I doubt they have any concept of neural interfaces, which is why we're here." She tapped a couple keys, "Gimmie a second to download everything."

The whole trip, Christiona had seemed like a perfectly normal teenaged girl. Sure she had white hair and red eyes, but this wasn't that uncommon for Federals. Besides, while her hair was white, it wasn't the sickly, milky albino-white, it was a full, 'positive' white. At this point, however, she looked very much artificial: her eyes were half-closed, flickering back and forth as if she was in REM sleep, or reading something exceptionally quickly. Her lips moved noiselessly as the data loaded directly into her processors. After a few moments she fully opened her eyes, sighing softly and unplugging the interface and returning it to the datapad.

"It's a little complicated, and I'm still not positive of all the stories. Try learning the whole of Norse mythology in an evening, there's just not enough time to tell all the stories, let alone make sense of them. Also, he thought I was a spirit wanting a story as a form of entertainment, so he simply told the stories; the context was assumed to be known." She smiled weakly, "Basically, imagine that I told you that Mjollnir was Thor's hammer and that he is killed by Jörmungandr, but I don't tell you the signifigance of those names. And then, add on that I'm telling you in an ancient Germanic tongue that nobody uses any more. I'm sure you can see how I'm a lil' confused." She pondered a little, "From what I can gather, it almost sounds like the Firebird were... ah... 'aliens' who dropped off the people who became these people. Their mythcycle talks about god-kings, and beings that are no longer around, kinda similar to how Freyr's son supposedly ruled Sweden.

"As for the relic... I'm really not sure, butit seems that as opposed to being a representation of a Firebird, it is a Firebird. When I asked Andzai who made it, he seemed dumbfounded that I would ask such a question. I think the landing site, if it still exists, it to the extreme north, in the 'Summer Lands'." She smiled weakly, "It's really a rich mythos, so it'll take time to fully understand, and I am still learning the language."

OOC: Indeed it is. It's when a volcanic erruption melts a great deal of glacial water causing a flood of epic proportions. Scroll down a bit here (http://faculty.weber.edu/bdattilo/shknbk/notes/vlchzrds.htm) for an explination. The Magic card was based on this effect, and, indeed, depicts it.

OOC2: Christ, I mention one obscure Scandinavian term, and now I'm Captain Norse mythology. And don't ask me to explain why she knows mythology from nations that don't exist. Fractal reality's funky like that.

In his excitement, Ysuran either didn't notice or affected not to notice Cristiona's oddities.

"I see," he replied, enthusiastic nonetheless, "Now that is very interesting and quite possibly correct. And oh, that is interesting - perhaps whatever the Firebird is, it's contained or described in that computronium? It must be information of some sort, because it can hardly be an FTL drive or a jumpgate or anything of that kind.

"The "Summer Lands", they would be up near the Equator, I suppose? Because of the elliptical orbit you'd still get the same dual winters and summers, but they'd be the same length. If I were an alien that's where I'd put a spaceport - the planetary rotation would lessen launch costs. But I'm told that there's no sign of any manufacture there.

"Maybe you could ask them?"

OOC: What's wrong with that? You can be The Mighty Thor. So long as I get to be Odin, that is ... The Norse are cool.

Cristiona nodded slowly, looking something like a parent listening to an excited five-year-old explaining his first day of school. She tried to keep her eyes from glossing over, working to pick out what was important and ignoring the verbal chaff. Then something stuck in her head, as she remembered an earlier conversation with Aiska. "Wait, hold on a minute. Dual winters? So each year is like... two years?" All of a sudden, Aiska being eight (and a half) years old made a whole lot more sense.

"Three, actually," Ysuran explained, "The planet orbits highly elliptically, so it has two "winters", at the beginning of the year and then halfway through it, and two summers in between, but only one of those summers and winters are "true" - when the axial tilt presents one hemisphere or the other to the sun.

"It's just escaping "false" winter now - the Southern Hemisphere is pointed towards the sun, but it was orbiting at the aphelion end of it's orbit so it was quite cold, but it's entering "true" summer now - the Southern Hemisphere is still inclined to sunwards and it's approaching perihelion.

"Of course, since the sun here is more than twice as bright as Sol, the habitable zone is further out - the year is nine hundred and thirty days to fit all eight seasons in."

OOC: 930x8.5=7905, 7905/365=21.6.

Cristiona nodded slowly, most of what he was saying didn't make much sense, but the description of just how long a 'year' was did. So I'm just under '8' years old... "I see... okay." She smiled happily, about to hop out to talk to Aiska when she realized that she wasn't done here, "Hm. Right then. Well, Andzai described the Summer Lands as being many months from here... I guess the equator would be that far on foot." She looked at the carving, frowning slightly, "What's so special about this, anyway? It's just metal..."

OOC: If Cristiona has a mental/physical "age" of 17, that makes her ... 17x365=6205, 6205/930=6.6.

"About eight thousand kilometers, from here to there," Ysuran replied, "So quite some travel, afoot or by those bird-things they ride. And of course with two moons and a band of ice debris in the sky, their "months" are likely to be different.

"As for the "Firebird", it only looks metal because it's been plated with gold - gold is a conductor, of course, so it will transmit current. Which is important because inside the gold is a core of very advanced computronium (http://ns.goobergunch.net/wiki/index.php/Computronium) - I think it must be designed to be practically indestructible, because it's in very good condition for however old it is."

Cristiona blinked again, furrowing her brow, "Might explain the holy status afforded it; it's clearly something that couldn't be replaced, even if they were able to work metal..." She looked over the Firebird again, not touching it, but looking it over closely, "Is there any way to interface with it without damaging it? Or is it like having the plates to a harddrive: completely useless without the supporting hardware?"

"Or something they don't know what it is," Ysuran suggested. "A "gift from the gods" sort of thing? Maybe it's an expedition report from one group of aliens, left here for safe keeping for another lot to pick up? ... No, if I wanted to keep something like this safe I'd build a giant monument to mark where it was and put it on one of the moons.

"As for interfacing with it, I really don't know - that isn't my area of expertise - but given how little we know about how it works, I'd be reluctant to try it."

Aiska turned up beside them (Andzai was at the Warrior's Hall, discussing with Trzeka the portents he'd been given by the First), and looked curiously.

"It is the Firebird," she told them. "Is there something you want to know? Maybe I can help."

Cristiona shrugged, "Really hard to say. They implied that it was ancient; possibly from before they achieved sentience. My guess is that it's useless to whoever left it, and priceless to whoever has it. I doubt anyone who could make this stuff would dip it in gold and put a carving around it. Unless..." She frowned, "Unless they were using it as a symbol of their power. Not sure why they'd use computronium, but..." she shrugged.

Cristiona smiled as Aiska came in, nodding a little, "Actually, yes. We're a little curious about the Firebird and where it came from. Also, about..." She frowned, still not knowing any words for metal. Instead she simply pointed to the 'gold', careful not to touch it, "We're curious about that part of it."

"That would make it several million years old," Ysuran pointed out. "I don't think it would last that long - not outside vacuum, that is, and you might be pushing it there. As far as I can tell the gold is original; it's too even to be applied afterwards, and just "dipping it in gold" would probably damage the computronium - I have no idea how it works, but it doesn't look damaged."

He smiled at Aiska, who raised her eyebrows in response.

"Didn't Andzai tell you?" she asked, "That" - she pointed to the statue - "Is a, a picture of the Firebird, of what it might look like were it whole. That" - she indicated the rod - "Is the Firebird, the, the corporeal part of it.

"It is only part of it, though - like the seed of a tree, perhaps? Or the trunk - without it you have just branches, but with it you have a tree. So it is the ... the major part of the Firebird, curled around itself like a seed in the winter, but it lacks what it needs to "grow" ... I fear I'm making no sense at all!

"Where it came from ... we got it from the Red Gorges tribe, back in the days of my grandparents' parents. They had brought it with them from the Northern forests, where they had got it in turn from a tribe called the Bare Mountain, who themselves got it from a tribe called the Fallingthunder, up in the Summer Lands.

"Since that is where we all came from, after the Firebirds carried us from Ka-Szi, probably they always had it, from the Dawn Times until then."

OOC: The golden rod is hanging from the wooden statue, which is carved out of the tree. Just thought I might not have been clear enough about it earlier. What Aiska is trying to explain is that the computronium doesn't work without the proper hardware ... while having only a very ritualised, myth-distorted conception of what it is, and no words for "computronium" or "hardware".

"Oh. Um... oh. They must have interacted with a primative tribe at some point then..."

She looked back to Aiska, who was really much more fun to talk to. At least she didn't twitch. "Oh... when he explained it, I thought the whole thing was the Firebird... Do you know how Bare Mountain got it from Fallingthunder? Or anything about Fallingthunder?"

She glanced at Ysuran, "I think we're getting somewhere..."

Aiska frowned. "I don't know," she replied, "It was very long ago, and Fallingthunder must surely be very far to the North! The edge of the world is far away, after all.

"I suppose they must still be there, but I don't know where."

"Oh, wonderful!" Ysuran exclaimed. "Do continue, please - this is all very interesting!"

Cristiona nodded, smiling, "Thank you, Aiska. I think that helps a lot!"

She relayed everything to Ysuran, "Is there anything else? I think the Fallingthunder trip might be our aliens."

"It's not much, really," Aiska replied. "Andzai might be able to tell you more, but it's older than him too."

"I don't think there's anything else," Ysuran replied, "But I do wish we knew where they were! I'd like to get to the bottom of this. I suppose we'll need to search the equatorial regions ... thank you, thank you very much!"

He wandered off, intent in thought.

"Um," Aiska began. "You asked, before, if I would tell you more about the First? I could do that now, if you'd like."

Cristiona nodded, watching Ysuran wander off before happily sitting down on the mound of furs, tucking her legs under herself. She smiles at Aiska, feeling a little more relaxed around the Ailurindine than the Tsarainese. "Well... I don't think Andzai likes me very much. I'd rather have you tell me, if you don't mind." She blushed softly, "You talk slower."

Sensor Operations Core, Kash'haiko Sukal, in orbit of Taiga IV

"He wants me to look for aliens now?" Serene Cloud Butterfly sighed. "I've already been over the planet looking for signs of industry - what am I supposed to find now? Monoliths nine by five by three?"

On the far end of the viewscreen, the Captain echoed her. "I have no idea, Butterfly. And I doubt anything will be visible that didn't crop up the first time. But finding whoever made this thing is reasonably important, both to the Star Command and Research and Sciences. If Ysuran thinks he has a lead, why not follow it?"

"Because Ysuran has all the common sense of a chicken on a spring?"

He grinned. "All Researchers are like that, Butterfly. Humour him - you never know, you might end up with an alien superdreadnought named after you."

"Just what I always wanted, sir."

Shaman's Hall, Winter Settlement, Southern Hemisphere, Taiga IV

"Andzai doesn't like you very much?" Aiska repeated, confused. "Why do you think that? I think Andzai doesn't know what to do with you, but surely he doesn't dislike you."

Cristiona shifted nervously, shrugging a little, "I don't know... he just doesn't seem as nice as you are." She frowned, "I guess I see your point, though. We're probably more than a little unexpected..." She smiled weakly, trying to stear the conversation back, "Still, you do take your time so I can understand what you're saying, and I appretiate that." A healthier smile, "So, if you'd still like to tell me about the First Ones, I'd like that very much."

Aiska laughed (and strangely enough, that gesture was entirely congruent with humanity's). "Well, he can be a bit crotchety sometimes ... I'll do my best for you. Most people aren't really interested - they come and ask when someone's sick, or possessed, or otherwise, but they don't much care how they came to be here. So it's nice to be able to tell the stories, to someone other than Andzai or children."

She settled down more comfortably onto the furs, cleared her throat, and began.

"In the beginning, beyond the Summer Lands, the people dwelt in Ka-Szi. And for a time all was well, but the people forgot the proper ways; they cut down the forests, and filled the lakes. The air was full of the stench of burning, and the people suffered for their foolishness.

"The spirits they offended and the ghosts of their ancestors drove them forth from the bright places, into the high places where nothing grew. They were cold and short of breath at all times, and there was never enough food.

"Then came the Firebirds, from out of the night skies. "O sorry people!", said the Firebirds, "Through thy foolishness thou hast suffered. Repentest thou now thy greed?" And the people were repentant, for it was a bad time. The sun had not yet risen upon the Dawn Times.

"The Firebirds opened wide their jaws, and the people passed one by one into their bodies, into the bright eggs they carried. Some of the people were burned by the fire of their hearts, but others lived; and these the Firebirds carried down the River of Night, to Ka-Ris ..."

The origin tale went on, as Aiska detailed how the Firebirds had laid their burning eggs in the treetops of Ka-Ris, and how the First had emerged, blinking in the light of the day, surrounded once again by primaeval forests. How they had squabbled over the proper course to take, and how the Firebirds had made the double winters long, to ensure that they followed the correct path.

And on; how the Firebirds were only semi-mortal, but the First were mortal entire, and when it came time for them to die - after full forty years, to be sure - they went again into the bellies of the Firebirds, and into the eggs of the Firebirds, and remained there still. But even the Firebirds grew old, the feathers of their wings falling loose as the great birds withered to bones, until all that was left of their bodies was the heart-bone*, and the eggs.

The eggs they hid in secret places, where the people could not find them; but their heart-bones they gave to the people, as testimony to the covenant between them.

Within the eggs of the Firebirds, the First were still waiting; and one day, perhaps, in the fullness of time, they would hatch - as Firebirds themselves, bright and red and brilliant, to take the people back to a Ka-Szi restored. It had not happened yet.

OOC: * What would be the clavicle in humans, or possibly the wish-bone in birds

Cristiona smiled happily, "Well, the stories are interesting, and they help me with your language, too." She nodded, listening carefully as Aiska related the story of the Firebirds and the First Ones, occationally asking for clarification was she wasn't sure of a word that was used, as well as letting her datapad record the whole thing.

She pondered a little; the 'reality' of the story was beginning to form in Cristiona's mind. It seemed that the First Ones were a highly advanced race that suffered some kind of disaster (nuclear melt down? mass war?) and were forced to flee, possibly 'forgetting' all their advanced technology. The Firebirds still sounded like an advanced alien race, or, more accurately, the ships the aliens used: 'opened wide their jaws' could be a cargo hatch opening. They were probably called 'Firebird' because the First Ones had no words for the aliens, and over the generations, what they really looked like morphed, and their representation started to match the name, as opposed to the other way around. Perhaps, even, they were taken from somewhere to this planet. The 'River of Night' could easily be space, and if Ka-Szi is 'beyond the end of the world', well, it would almost have to be another planet.

Of course, that meant that finding where Aiska's people had originally come from would be almost impossible. Who knew how far away the original planet might be?

The 'eggs of the Firebirds' deeply interested her. She wondered what they could be. Possibly escape or transport pods, possibly cloning tanks, possibly communication devices, it was impossible to say.

She was curious, however, "Where is Ka-Ris?" If they could find Ka-Ris, they might be able to find the 'eggs'.

Aiska giggled. "Ka-Ris is here," she explained gently, "Underfoot, all around us ... I'm sorry, I didn't realise you didn't know that!"

Cristiona blinked a few times, and looked confused for a few minutes. She then blushed, feeling silly, "Oh... um... I thought Ka-Ris was the... er... specific place they were taken to." She frowned, trying to think back over the story and figure out what was going on, now that she knew Ka-Ris was the planet.

"Yes," Aiska explained, "Which is here. Where the Firebirds carried our ancestors to from across the River of Night."

Cristiona nodded slowly, pondering the situation, "And their eggs were hidden here? Hmm... So, one is in that tree where the ceremony took place?" The gears of her mind were spinning as she turned this information over in her head. She remembered where the tree was, perhaps the Tsarainese could scan it. Or whatever it was they did.

"The eggs were hidden somewhere," Aiska confirmed, "But nobody knows where - who knows where Firebirds nest? The tree is just a tree, made with a hole in it that we might talk to the ghosts of our ancestors and the First."

Cristiona smiled happily, "I understand, thank you... just wasn't sure if there was one in that particular tree or not." She smiled at Aiska, changing the subject a little. "Remember yesterday when we were talking about ages? Well, I figured out how old I am from Great Winter to Great Winter." She smiled a little shyly as she continued, "I'm a little over 7."

"I didn't think you could be seventeen," Aiska replied. "Why, you're younger than me!"

She mulled it over in her mind. If Cristiona had said she was seventeen, was she measuring all the seasons? No, that would make her just over two, which was impossible. All the winters would make her eight and a half, the same age as Aiska herself. She couldn't fathom how Cristiona might be measuring, and so she asked.

"If you are only a little over seven, by what measure are you seventeen? I'm sorry, I can't figure it out."

Oh... shit...

While this would certainly be a rather awkward situation for anyone, Cristiona had one, slight, mitigating factor: she could think faster than any normal human (or Ailuridine). Indeed, she could think faster than many other AI's, largely due to the Hack's preference for over engineering. And since she was supposed to be able to organically learn (and be fluent in) a nearly limitless number of languages, she was over engineered by Hack standards. Consequently, she was able to raise parallel processing to whole new levels of insanity.

Which is just what she did.

By putting her processors to the task.

All of them.

About a second later, she responded, "Where I am from, the winters don't fall as they do here, and sometimes they are so mild as to be unnoticeable. However, there are always rainy seasons that come at odd intervals. We measure from those rainy seasons." She shrugged a little, "Aparently it doesn't add up quite properly with the winters here." She gave a weak smile, "I had to ask one of the others how to do the... er... conversion?

It wasn't the best lie, but she hoped it would suffice, and it wasn't like she had had the luxury of time on this. At the same time, she felt terrible about lying to Aiska, but couldn't imagine explaining that she was from another planet, and she figured that Serai certainly wouldn't much care for having the truth revealed. She sighed inwardly.

"Oh, I see," Aiska said. "Your home must be very far away - I have never heard of such a place! Maybe I could visit it, sometime?"

Cristiona nodded a little sadly, "Yes... very far away..." She zoned out a little as she thought about just how far she was. Not just on the other side of the planet, but on another planet entirely. How could she explain such a thing to Aiska? She smiled a little, "I'd like to take you there very much... and I hope I can some day."

Sensor Operations Core, Kash'haiko Sukal, in orbit of Taiga IV

"Nothing," Serene Cloud Butterfly reported. "There are quite definitely no signs of extrasolar occupation anywhere on the planet. I will remind you, esar keiSdengelá, that that includes the artefact you have already found, and that satellites are not designed for exhaustive archaeological surveys."

The Researcher, a long way away on the other end of her viewscreen, visibly deflated, and Butterfly felt almost sorry for him.

"Look," she said, "I'm behind schedule as it is - I've got to shift these sats over for a survey of the inner moon. Good luck, esar - that's all I can offer you."

Shaman's Hall, Winter Settlement, Southern Hemisphere, Taiga IV

Aiska delivered a raised-eyebrows smile, which dropped when Serai re-entered the hall. The Special Operative had narrowly avoided being pounced by small Ailuridines by virtue of the fact that she was made of sterner stuff than arTain's powered armoured troopers; their armour was on the outside, while hers was on the inside, but foremost among her defences was a mentality harder than diamondoid.

"Good afternoon," she offered, nodding to the Hacker and the native (and supressed a sudden unprofessional suspicion. You heard things about the Federation). "What did Ysuran want to ask you about?"

Cristiona returned Aiska's smile, wondering why it so quickly faded, but understood when she saw Serai. Serai was something of an enigma. She seemed to cold and uncaring, but Cristiona had the feeling that it was just because Serai was like so professional that she was damn near an archtype. Didn't make her any nicer, mind, but it helped explain things. Of course, the other thought to run through Cristiona's mind was that Serai was in dire need of a night of wild sex. Luckily, she managed to keep from giggling at that. "Um, he was asking about the Firebird." She pointed to the Computronium, "That is the 'Firebird' and thus the holy thing, the wood is just a representation. Probably valuable only for its worksmanship. There doesn't appear to be any special value to it.

"Aiska's been telling me their creation story, and I think I've got a better grasp on things. It sounds like her people came from another planet -- possibly post-apocalyptic -- and were taken here by the Firebirds. Our alien interlopers." She paused, "Or, possibly, a group from the original planet who hadn't lost their tech from the original world.

"Anyway, the computronium is supposed to be the 'heart bone' of the Firebird, and is all that's left of them. My guess is that 'firebird' is lexigraphical mutation. Originally, the ships and their inhabitants were called firebird due to lack of anything better to call it. Like how someone might call a tank a dragon. This was generations and generations ago, however. Therefore, while they kept the name (easy enough to do), they lost the physical manifestation, which is why it now looks like... well... a bird on fire.

"Supposedly, the spirits of the Firebirds live in 'eggs' in the treetops. Are you sure you haven't found any other tech around here? The eggs are supposed to be big enough to hold multiple people, they can't be that hidden..."

"That's very interesting," Serai replied. She was telling the truth - it was interesting, both for it's own sake (best not to let the Researchers figure that one out, they'd be talking her ears off) and for the simple fact that they might not be looking for a second sapient species at all.

If the Ailuridines were the only ones involved, the risk of giant alien battlefleets floating about dropped a great deal. The Star Command would be pleased to know that - Tenebris was only eighty-six lightyears away, and they had few enough ships avaliable in Sol to spare some to guarding the colony.

"So what we're looking for is something like a ship," she continued. "Sadly, there aren't any eggs above the normal size in the treetops - I've just spoken to Ysuran, who has been speaking to the sensors officer aboard the 'Sukal, who has apparently found not a single example of alien technology from all her satellites. Unless it's somewhere underground, these "eggs" are not on Tenebris."

Cristiona shook her head, "No, they can't be underground. See, Aiska specifically said they were in the trees..." Cristiona blinked. That wasn't right. She had just assumed they were in the treetops, because that was where the communion with the First Ones happened. She frowned, slowly forming the theory as she talked through it, "Actually, she said 'the eggs they hid in secret places, where the people could not find them'... the First Ones return to the eggs, and they talk to the first ones in the trees...

"Mythcycles, like a lot of things, show hints of reality. The language of myths is often very exact, and Aiska was retelling a specific story. I'm sure she memorized it word for word, as opposed to just telling me about it." She shrugged, "Like the difference between telling someone about the Christian Jesus and reading the Gospel to them, you see? She was 'quoting the Bible' at me.

"Therefore... there's something important about that phrasing... she didn't say 'would not find them' or 'could not see them', but 'could not find them'. That means a physical impossibility. Underground isn't impossible. Highly unlikely, but not impossible. And if they were underground, the myth would probably make mention of it. Buried things are often mentioned specifically. Returning to Mother Earth and the like. Very specific, and usually somewhat, er... sexual.

"So... where would it be impossible for a primative people to find?" She blinked and her eyes lit up. "They aren't on Ka-Ris! Ysuran got it without even realising it! Check the moons! I be the eggs are there!"

Serai nodded with growing excitement herself.

"Or the crescent," she agreed, "Although I'm not sure if we'd be able to find anything there, not without a lot of searching. I'd best tell the 'Sukal."

Her communication protocols were familiar, well-worn presences in her mind; the wonder of it was commonplace. Serai's signal bounced down one of several dedicated aeryaghrana links to a communications switchboard in Nova Reio, and from there across one of several hundred back across the universe to the Kash'haiko Sukal. The time delay was less than it took for her to frame a query.

ExSec SpecialOp tsaRikhan >> Captain-Commandant?

Captain-Commandant tsaShan << Eja?

ExSec SpecialOp tsaRikhan >> Our Hacker has had a rather pleasing intuitive leap. Would you be so kind as to bother that young woman running your satellite cloud for us again?

Captain-Commandant tsaShan << Butterfly? Oh dear - keiSdengelá's been doing that a lot lately. I think she's shifting them to the inner moon now, in any case.

ExSec SpecialOp tsaRikhan >> Oh? In that case, we require nothing but that she keep her eyes peeled.

Captain-Commandant tsaShan << For monoliths nine by five by three?

ExSec SpecialOp tsaRikhan >> Quite possibly. I'm not going to rule anything out just yet. Thank you very much, Captain-Commandant.

Captain-Commandant tsaShan << Thank Butterfly, not me - I am just the administrator, after all.

ExSec SpecialOp tsaRikhan >> If she finds something, I shall get in line. Again, my thanks.

"Apparently the sensors operator was shifting to the inner moon already," Serai reported aloud. "Which is over three thousand kilometers in diameter, but given the number of satellites the 'Sukal carries, it shouldn't be long, if anything's there to be found."

"You seem happy," Aiska said. "She seems happy. What's going on?"

Cristiona smiled at Serai, "Yay." She turned to Aiska, and without thinking, gave the Ailuridine a hug. She pulled back, blushing a little, "Um... sorry." She cleared her throat a little before explaining, "The group I came with are... um..." the word 'scientist' was sorely lacking from her vocabulary, "They're, um... 'seekers of truth' and were curious about your stories about the Firebirds. I, um... I think I figured out where the eggs might be..."

Aiska "eeped" a little and stiffened as Cristiona hugged her unexpectedly.

"I don't mind," she replied, a little perturbed and a little suprised. "Your "seekers of truth" are the excitable, childlike ones? Curiousity is good, but, uh ... isn't the point of hiding something that it can't be found?"

Serai snorted in amusement. "I'm glad to see you're happy too," she said drily.

Cristiona blushed deeply, afraid she'd upset Aiska and almost a little fearful of Serai. She turned to Serai first, "Um... yeah..." She couldn't think of anything else to say, positive the reputation of her nation had preceeded her. So, instead, she turned to Aiska, "'Childlike'? Yeah... I can see that..." She smiled and shrugged, "Well, they're curious. I don't think they'll actually find the eggs, but they know where to look." She shrugged again, "I'm just happy to have helped and happy that I might have solved a riddle."

I should put a stop to this, before it all ends in tears, Serai thought. If I'm right. I could be wrong. Uncertain, she chose to do nothing.

"Well, I suppose I'll go tell Ysuran what you've told me," she said. "He should be pleased."

"Then I am happy for you," Aiska replied.

OOC: Argh, le merde.

Cristiona nodded, "Kay." She looked a little relieved when Serai left: the woman made her nervious. She shifted on the furs a little, smiling at Aiska, "Thank you.

"So, you're Andzai's apprentice? Does that mean that some day you will be the Shamen, or are you simply an assistant? I'm a little curious about Andzai's and your duties." She didn't know what else to say, and learning more about the culture seemed to be a good place to start.

"I'm his apprentice, not his assistant," Aiska replied, insulted. What sort of person did Cristiona think she was? ... Was that why she'd hugged her? "Yes, I help him, but not like that!"

OOC: Muahahaha, linguistic errors! Cristiona's used quite the wrong value-intensifier prefix or something on "assistant". :D I am the eebil.

Cristiona blinked several times, surprized at Aiska's responce. When she realised what happened, she turned a deep shade of red, "I... I didn't mean anything like that! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to insult you, or imply anything of the sort... I... I guess I don't understand your language as well as I thought I did." She looked down sadly, before standing, "I'll just leave you alone. I'm sorry."

"Oh!" Aiska exclaimed, mollified by Cristiona's abject apology. "No - I'm sorry. I mean ... please don't go. I'd like to talk to you.

"I'm sorry I snapped at you," she continued, when Cristiona had sat back down again. "It's just ... people talk, you know. When they think I can't hear. Because I am eight and a half, and ..."

If she could have blushed, undoubtedly she would have; as it was her ears flattened.

OOC: Back in the Days of Yore, an unmarried woman of twenty or so was considered a spinster, practically unmarriageable and probably of ill repute. People died earlier, and grew worn earlier (no anti-aging wrinkle cream in the days of Roma Aeterna!), and thus married earlier.

Cristiona paused at the door before moving back to the furs and sitting down again. She smiled a little at Aiska, whispering her thanks and apologising again, making a mental note to be more careful in her word usage. It took her a minute to understand what Aiska was referencing but gave Aiska a friendly smile when it dawned on her, "Aww, I'm sorry to hear that. You've just not met the right person, or..." Her voice trailed off, not quite sure how to ask why without sounding rude.

"There never was anyone," Aiska said. "When I was young everyone thought I was strange, and so I became Andzai's apprentice - strangeness is expected of shamans, after all. But they still talk."

She shifted uncomfortably - she'd never discussed it this frankly even with Andzai - and changed the subject.

"You were asking what I did, but what do you do? I don't think you're a shaman, really."

Cristiona started to question what Aiska meant by 'strange', but closed her mouth, not wanting to make the Ailuridine uncomfortable. She simply followed the subject change, figuring that Aiska would share if she wanted to.

Of course, the new direction wasn't exceptionally welcome either. Still, she decided to muddle through, "Well, in a way, I guess I'm more of a... er... 'teller of tales'. I like to learn languages and learn the stories of people and telling them to others." She hoped her point got across, as she wasn't positive how to translate 'Skald' into Aiska's language.

"I suppose you are a sort of shaman, then," Aiska replied, "Or maybe a trader. Is that how you learned our tongue so soon? None of the others have."

OOC: About the closest you'd get to "Skald" is "Shaman". :D

Cristiona shook her head a little, "Well, I don't consider myself a trader, I don't actually exchange items, just stories. And, of course, I translate for my companions. I'm not really sure how I learned your language so quickly, I'm just really good at it." Another white lie. Cristiona knew full well that she was specifically designed for linguistic aptitude. Although, in a way, it wasn't a lie as she had no clue how the programming worked. Still, dodging a lie with "from a certain point of view" still struck her as lying.

She pursed her lips and shrugged, "Maybe I am something of a shamen. I'm just used to shamen and storytellers being separate." Taking a bit of a chance, she decided to introduce a couple foreign words, if for no other reason than to name things. "See, I'm used to skald being the story-tellers and seiðkona being a more religious leader. The skald would tell tales, while the seiðkona would do things like what we did earlier with the First Ones." She frowned a little, "Does that make any sense at all?"

"I think so," Aiska replied. "But it is pious - we would say it is pious - to keep the lore, the tales. Otherwise they might be forgotten.

"Only a trader would tell others what is happening now, because he might stand to gain from it - people will treat him well, if he comes bearing knews. They might even pay him for it, if it's useful.

"Your people must be very rich, if they can afford so many different shamans."

"Pious? I suppose that makes sense..." Cristiona pondered. How the Hell could she explain books or the internet to Aiska? Telling stories was simply a hobby for her, as it was wholly unnecessary for continuation of the stories.

She shook her head quickly, "No, no, no... I don't tell current stories, I like the old, nearly-forgotten stories in even older languages." She smiled at the thought of being able to tell ancient tales in ancient languages. Of course, very few people could appretiate it, but it was still nice. "I guess we're rich, but... er... I guess it's pretty complicated, and I really don't know how to explain..." She sighed sadly. A language barrier was so much easier to resolve than a cultural one.

"If you think of a way, I should like to hear it," Aiska replied. "And I'd still like to visit your homeland someday - it sounds so strange, with your skald and your sidkona[/color=darkslateblue] and your starveling winters. And your forgetting of stories. I'm sorry, I can't say the words right."[/color]

That was a suprise; over the whole of the world Aiska knew there were only a handful of tongues, most of them similar (at least to shamans, who learned the speech of the First). She mentioned it to Cristiona, adding;

"It seems very odd, that people can go so far as to not be understood, that you can do it so often! You must have come a very long way. What steeds you must have!"

Uh-oh... I've painted myself into a corner...

She smiled weakly, "Yes... quite far away indeed... I would like to show you my home, but I don't know if I can... these decisions aren't mine to make, I'm afraid."

Deciding to employ a recently used tactic, she shifted subjects, "If you like, I could tell you one of my favorite stories. It will lose some of its poetry in the translation, but it's still rather epic." She smiled, "It's rather long, of course, but I could probably finish the first part before dinner, if you have the time..."

Eth (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eth_%28letter%29)

"That would be wonderful!" Aiska exclaimed. "After telling you so many of our tales, I'm interested to hear about yours."

Opening her eyes wide in an Ailuridine grin, she cupped her ears with her hands. "I'm all ears - the better to hear you with."

OOC: I know it's eth, but Aiska pronounces it as d. If not for the d in Andzai, it would have been a t! Sorry for the confusion.

Cristiona giggled softly at Aiska before settling herself on the furs, getting comfortable, but also seeming to undergo a physical change. She crossed her legs under herself, her back straightened, and her hands rested on her knees, ready to be used as needed in the course of telling her story. She tossed her hair back a little and took a deep breath, her processors kicking into overdrive to both recall the story and to translate it so that she could give a smooth narrative.

"SO, praise of the prowess of people-kings
of spear-armed Danes, in days long sped..."


OOC: Oops, sorry. My mistake. Oh, and yes, she's reciting Beowulf. Proper names, of course, would be untranslated. Otherwise, she'd spend forever just explaining 'Danes', hee!

Aiska listened in interest as Cristiona spoke of the hero Beowulf and the monstrous Grendel. Much of it would not be out of place in their own Winter Hall - certainly the people would understand Unferth's drunken boasts, or the horror of the monster dragging away their kin to his lair beneath the lake. Other parts were very alien - what was wergild, or a sweord? She didn't interrupt Cristiona as she spoke - that would be rude.

Time wore on, as Cristiona told of Beowulf's battle with Grendel's mother, and Andzai returned, followed, some time later, by Serai. The older woman carried a box of something; Aiska hoped it wasn't more of the horrible "seaweed" bricks. Maybe humans found them tastier?

But no, it was some other kind of food, and Serai was saying something to Cristiona. That was a pity; she'd been enjoying the tale.

"Cristiona? I need you to translate," she said. "I've brought a case of MREs back from the dragonfly* - much longer and I'm afraid we'll eat these people out of hearth and home. Not the emergency rations!" she assured the Hacker. "It says it's some kind of stew."

OOC: Hurrah for Beowulf! A dragonfly is an odd class of airship/autogyro/aircraft thing. The ones the TESEC uses are optimised for exploring, but they're also used on Mars, and to a lesser extent Earth.

Cristiona deeply enjoyed telling the tale, even if much of it probably didn't translate very well. The pacing and rhyme were horribly mangled, but Aiska didn't seem to mind. She was so wrapped up in her story that she didn't really even notice Andzai or Serai as they walked in. She half-jumped as Serai talked to her, "Huh?" She blinked a few times and listened to Serai and frowned slightly, "Tsarainese culture isn't big on cuisine, is it?" She peered at the boxes before shrugging and turning to Andzai and Aiska, "She's brought more food to share. It's not the same as the other stuff from this morning, it's... um... supposed to be made into stew." She shrugged a little, as if to absolve herself of any claims of quality.

"Tsarainese culture is perfectly "big" on cuisine," Serai replied, "Insofar as it can be with five and a half billion people to feed. The Star Command is not, and they're the ones who stocked the 'Sukal and the 'Wind."

Andzai peered suspiciously at the boxes - the human chieftain had an odd definition of "edible", after all.

"We are honoured, of course," he replied finally, "If you would be so kind as to prepare it? I am not familiar with this sort of food."

Cristiona translated, and Serai set to - she wasn't much of a cook (for all she'd told Cristiona, Tsarainese culture wasn't very big on cuisine) but a retarded monkey could sort out how to prepare Tsarainese MREs; a lot of Tsarainese grunts weren't far from it. You just peeled off the wrappers and heated them - the silicate plastics the boxes were made of went in fires better than they went in microwaves, but silicates were cheaper than hydrocarbons in proudly self-sufficient Tsaraine.

Cristiona looked at the resulting stew with almost as much fear and trepidation as the Ailuridine did. While she technically had no parents, she had grown up with June and Aela, and despite what people might think about the DN-01 Nihilanth (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v453/GMCMA/GMC/Nihilanth.jpg), her avatar was an amazing cook. Being reduced to emergency rations and MRE's was something akin to a kick to the gut. Still, at this point, she wasn't in any position to complain, she really was quite hungry. She took her serving and tried to make the best of it.

Serai didn't regard the MREs as that bad a meal (but then, she could eat emergency rations without complaining). An unbiased observer might classify them as "adequate"; and they were, at least, nutritionally balanced.

The Ailuridines ate them happily enough; you didn't turn down food, after all.

Cristiona found herself pondering appropriate herbs and such to add to make it more enjoyable, but found it was good enough. Certainly better than the emergency rations (which she still didn't think were truly edible). She eventually set down her container, finished with her meal. She relaxed against the furs, letting everyone finish, and thinking about continuing her tale. She hadn't managed to finish the third part, and hoped she'd have a chance before bed.

Andzai kept the containers - he didn't know what they were made of, but they might be useful. Serai didn't mind, although some of the Researchers might; they'd surely altered this society just by being here.

"Would you continue the tale, please?" Aiska asked Cristiona. To Andzai she explained; "Cristiona has been telling me a tale of her land, about a monster and a hero."

Andzai nodded, and settled down to listen.

The thought of how the containers might alter the society never really entered into Cristiona's mind. If it had, she probably wouldn't be telling the tale of Beowulf anyway. She smiled at Aiska, and smiled shyly at Andzai before settling back down and continuing her story, picking up with the third and final part.

---

"Thus made their mourning the men of Geatland,
for their hero's passing his hearth-companions:
quoth that of all the kings of earth,
of men he was mildest and most beloved,
to his kin the kindest, keenest for praise."

She smiled, lowering her head a little as she ended her story. She looked back up and finally focused to look at her audiance.

Aiska gave her an Ailuridine smile as she finished. "Thank you! That was wonderful."

She would have liked to hear it again, to puzzle out all the strangenesses of it, but Cristiona had already recited it once - it would be unfair to make her say it again.

Andzai had understood even less, since he'd come in partway through, but all the same he nodded and smiled appreciatively; stories were important, after all.

Serai endeavoured to clap a little, although truthfully she'd hardly noticed the old Norse tale; she'd used the time to compose a report to the Star Command, and another to the ExSec.

Cristiona smiled back at Aiska happily, "Hope it translated okay." She took a sip of her water, having been in desperate need of a drink. Beowulf was a long story to tell, and she was rather parched by the time she finished.

Still, it was certainly worth it. She felt closer to the Ailuridine, and telling the story had definately helped her with grasping their grammar and pacing of stories."

Shaman's Hall, Winter Settlement, Southern Hemisphere, Taiga IV

The sun had fallen with characteristic high-latitude speed, leaving only the firelight shining in the Shaman's Hall. Andzai waved his goodnights to the others, and wrapped himself in the thick furs. He wasn't so young as he had been, after all, and despite the onset of true Spring it remained cold at night.

Aiska followed some time later, but Serai remained awake for several hours yet; it was early morning in Tsaraine, and she spoke to her superiors there across unknowable space. Eventually, though, she too settled on the edge of the heaped furs, and slipped into a practiced doze.

Sometime in the small hours of the morning, Aiska rolled over in her sleep, snuggling up to Cristiona. Morning found her sound asleep, her head resting on the human girl's shoulder.

Sensor Operations Core, Kash'haiko Sukal, in orbit of Taiga IV

The 'Sukal had synchronised to a diurnal cycle based upon Taiga's slightly longer days and the human biorhythm, as calculated by one of the xenobiologists now planetside at the base camp on the ice cap.

Despite that, it was still a veritable hive of activity; quite a few of the Researchers had once been pale, emaciated teens perfectly willing to spend most of their nights awake in front of a screen, and they'd grown into pale, emaciated adults*.

Serene Cloud Butterfly wasn't one of them, but she was behind on her survey of the larger of Taiga's two moons, thanks to Ysuran and his requests.

She was tired, however; so when the scanning program registered an alarm, she took a second look at what it had highlighted on her screens. And a third. Then she went directly to the Captain-Commandant.

Sevyan tsaShan was also awake, being by nature a late riser; the fact that he had a rather delightful young lady awaiting his arrival** was beside the point. He wasn't expecting Butterfly, though.

SensorOp C. Butterfly >> Captain?

Captain-Commandant tsaShan << Butterfly? Can this wait for the morning?

SensorOp C. Butterfly >> I don't think so, sir.

Captain-Commandant tsaShan << Well?

SensorOp C. Butterfly >> The scans just highlighted an artificial object on the inner moon. I think I've found your Firebird.

OOC:
* Technically, the Tsakh, Ktrazirha, Hyazinari and quite a few of the Ral are pale and emaciated no matter what, but if these are Kei or Sche'dayach or Scheighuikh it holds.

** Fraternisation between crew members is strictly forbidden upon Star Command vessels, and no Captain-Commandant of the Star Command would ever indulge in such, of course!

However, the 'Sukal is under the joint command of Research and the Sciences, and it spends several months out of Sol on each voyage.

Cristiona fell asleep rather, quickly. She hadn't realised how tired the day had made her, but climbing (and falling from) the tree, as well as telling a rather long story had teken a bit out of her. She also hadn't slept very well the night before; happened every time she slept in an unfamiliar setting.

This night, however, she was more used to it, and the furs were rather comfortable and she fell asleep almost as soon as she closed her eyes. She awoke early, and blushed softly as she realised Aiska was snuggled up to her. She smiled happily, just enjoying the closeness, and not wanting to ruin it by waking up the Ailuridine. She also feared that it was just a random event in the night with no meaning. Better to enjoy the illusion than to ruin it by waking her.

Serai slept lightly, as she'd been trained to do; when Cristiona woke, she woke also, and was fully awake nigh immediately.

She saw the Ailuridine nestled up against the Hacker girl's back, and raised a wry eyebrow. The Researchers would all start haemorrhaging at the very thought, if they ... no. It's none of my buisness, God Above be praised, God Above be merciful.

Leaving the star-crossed duo to their own devices, she shouldered her pack, and slipped out the door. There was a pool nearby that was adequate, if not ideal, for bathing; if you were quick, that was. The water was still frigid with meltwater from the hills.

Cristiona smiled shyly at Serai, blushing softly and trying to shrug a little. She didn't want to wake Aiska, but it wasn't like she had engineered this. She had been asleep, how was she supposed to know Aiska would snuggle up to her?

Then again, what difference did it make? She wasn't beholden to Tsaraine's rules, and it wasn't like they could do much to her, she was a foreign contractor. She smiply closed her eyes as Serai left and went back to sleep. If someone needed her, they could come get her. Otherwise, she might as well sleep in. And snuggle back a little, of course.

Shaman's Hall, Winter Settlement, Southern Hemisphere, Taiga IV

Aiska stirred and smiled sleepily, smelling Cristiona nearby. The human's scent was mild, lye and flowers and the coppery tang of sweat. She was aware, suddenly, of how she smelled; it seemed suddenly much less pleasant.*

Cristiona was much closer than she'd thought, pressed up now under her chin. Her ears flattened in embarrassment and she rolled away hurriedly - Firebirds, what if someone saw, Andzai or Serai or Cristiona? What would Cristiona think? It couldn't be good.

Pool, outside the Winter Settlement, Southern Hemisphere, Taiga IV

Serai emerged freezing from the pool; it was just as cold as she'd feared, and despite the extent of her augments, they hadn't figured out any way to turn off her nerve endings. Not unless she wanted to spend years training with wizened monks atop a mountain somewhere.

She began to laugh at the sheer absurdity of it - the Hacker, the native, the mission, the Researchers who thought their more-than-an-aerospace-fighter investment was worth anything strategically - and it kept her laughing for a good minute or more. It was a good thing there was nobody around to hear.

But there were always her comms implants, and the 'Sukal up in orbit.

Captain-Commandant tsaShan << tsaRikhan? I trust it's a good day down there.

ExSec SpecialOp tsaRikhan >> Good enough, at least so far. Is there some problem?

Captain-Commandant tsaShan << A situation, at least. It may be problematic.

ExSec SpecialOp tsaRikhan >> Yes?

Captain-Commandant tsaShan << We found an alien spacecraft late last night, on the inner moon. Looks like a controlled crash or a bungled landing, but the Researchers tell me it can't have been supposed to land. We need Specialist Hirsch up here to translate for us, if you think she'll be of any use.

ExSec SpecialOp tsaRikhan >> The girl gained a working knowledge of the local tongue in one day, Captain-Commandant. I'm sure she will be.

She wondered whether to tell him about the possible problem with the native, but no, she didn't know anything; suspicion was hardly enough. And if the Hacker AI was any kind of professional, she could solve her own problems.

Captain-Commandant tsaShan << Very good, then. I'll send you a Dragonfly from the base camp.

Well, it could be interesting, explaining all this to Cristiona. What had happened to the mechanical, flesh-hating AIs of science fiction? They would almost have been more welcome than the emotional teenaged Hacker.**

OOC:

* Cristiona has been a day or two without bathing, but Aiska bathes about once every couple of months.
** Serai is hardly an example of an emotionally balanced person herself, given that she strives to avoid them; she's hardly a good judge of what's emotional or not.

The act of Aiska rolling away caused Cristiona to wake up again. She stirred softly, realising that she was no longer snuggled up to the Ailuridine. She frowned a little, figuring that the snuggle had been unintentional. She wasn't positive why she felt bad, but she had rather liked being close to Aiska. Still, no sense in mourning it, besides, what was she supposed to do? Take Aiska back to the Hack?

She smiled shyly, and a little sleepily, at Aiska, "Um... good morning?"

"Good morning!" Aiska replied, a little ... embarrassed? Guilty? Worried? There wasn't a word for it. "Um. Did you sleep well? Andzai, he snores a bit."

Cristiona smiled at Aiska, brushing her white hair from her face, "Good morning, Aiska!" She giggled softly, shaking her head a little, "I slept fine, thank you; Andzai didn't bother me at all." She smiled shyly at Aiska, "Um... how did you sleep?"

"Very well, thank you!" Aiska replied. It wasn't precisely a lie.

"Good morning." That was Serai, her hair tucked into a wet ponytail. "Cristiona, I need to talk to you; something's come up."

Cristiona smiled happily at Aiska, not wanting to mention the snuggling, but definately thinking about it, "I'm glad to hear it." She was about to say something else when Serai walked in, startling her. "Um... something? What do you mean?"

"They've found the Firebird," she said, "On the inner moon, as you suggested. Although I don't think an eight-hundred-meter colony ship looks particularly birdlike. The Researchers need you up on the moon to translate for them - apparently this is the same species, so their languages should be related. Though I know less than nothing about all that."

Cristiona sighed, rolling her eyes as if everyone should know about how words were formed and how primative people viewed things. "Well, of course it doesn't look like a firebird, they just didn't have anything better to call it. Or, it could have been a smaller shuttle. It's really impossible to say." She was about to turn back to Aiska when the rest of what Serai said sank in.

She blinked, not believing it, "Wait... you want me to leave? But... um..." She looked around helplessly, realising she had no real argument against it. She was sent here to work, not to spend time with the locals. She looked up at Serai, her voice small and almost childlike, "Will we be coming back...?"

Serai blinked. "I don't doubt it," she replied, "Most of the Researchers will be staying down here, after all, and they'll still need things translated until they grasp the language themselves. Right now all the action's up on the moon."

Cristiona sighed and nodded; there wasn't much she could say, really. This is why she was here. On the plus side, maybe she'd be able to manage a show on one of the Tsarainese ships. She was feeling a little gritty. She nodded to Serai, "Um, okay."

She looked over at Aiska, giving a smile that wasn't reflected in her eyes; a false smile. Hopefully, Aiska's grasp of human non-verbal communication was still lacking so that she wouldn't notice, "I've..." Yeah, how the fuck do I explain this? "There's some duties I need to perform for Serai. They need me to translate some stuff for them. I'll try to come back though, I'd like to share more stories with you." She hoped that would be sufficient, and almost wished that she was still assumed to be a spirit. Then she could just vanish and return without needing any real explination. Then again, that would only complicate the already fragile web of lies she'd constructed.

Aiska smiled and nodded in reply; doubtless she'd have been more suprised if she'd known just how far Cristiona was going.

"Come back soon, then," she replied. "I'll miss you!"

OOC: Ai ai ai, brain is flat!

Cristiona smiled happily and nodded, "I'll miss you too, but I'll be back as soon as I can."

She rolled out from under the fur she had been using as a blanket and stood up, stretching impressively, a couple joints popping softly. She sat back down and pulled on her boots before looking up at Serai, "Um... I guess I'm ready for whatever you guys need."

"One of the advantages of taking very little with you," Serai said, "Is that you have very little to take away. It'll take me a moment to talk to arTain ..."

Her eyes unfocused for a brief minute, or a long moment, as she did just that.

"Right," she said, "That's that. If the Researchers find themselves in untenable trouble, you get to come back down early. For now, however, there's a Dragonfly arriving for us in an hour or two, out by the first one."

That was a short distance (well, a short distance by Serai's standards) into the forest, where the natives hopefully wouldn't spot it (Serai suspected they had). It would be a longer trip back down to the icecap.

Cristiona simply nodded, looking a little sullen and introspective; much as she had when she first came here. Different reasons this time, but the same end result.

She was quiet enough on the trip, reviewing the new language, partially translating other classic stories, and trying to divine what unknown words might be, or creating new ones. The creation process seemed to follow Germany's just-add-words-together-until-you've-described-the-thing method. Then again, if it worked, who cared? Of course "hard-non-wood-item-that-shines" was a little clunky, but she could worry about that later. Finally, towards the end of the trip to the moon, she found herself attempting to compose some poetry in the new language, which largely involved her softly murmuring in a language that only she understood.

The trip back down to the ice-cap was soothing, and Serai had to fight the steady slow whop of the rotors sending her asleep. She caught up on her mail, and viewed the briefings the Researchers up on the moon had hastily prepared. Most of it went right over her head.

"You should watch this," she told Cristiona, tilting the screen.

"The colony ship is primarily a cylinder around eight hundred meters long and one hundred long - the units correspond roughly to the measurements of the natives on Taiga, which suggests it was built by them, or at least to their scale."

Like most Researchers Serai knew, the man rambled onto tangents at will.

"At the rear is a fairly standard Orion-style drive; a graphite-coated disk, shock absorbers, and a launching mechanism. The ship would have travelled by launching fission or fission-fusion projectiles to detonate behind it, pushing against the disk and propelling it forward. Given what we've discovered about it's mechanisms, it may have been able to get up to ten percent of light-speed, crossing a light-year in a decade.

"This in turn suggests a lack of FTL technology, and would normally suggest a "generation ship" if it weren't for the fact that facilities for long-duration space survival are relitavely lacking.

"There is, or rather was, a ring five hundred meters across around the ship, fifty meters broad, and connected by five spars to a section of the central spine. This would have been spun to provide centrifugal force in lieu of true gravity - clearly they cannot have had artificial gravity either.

"Today the ring is broken off; the ship landed vertically, tail-down, on the moon, and some time later it fell over, breaking the ring and snapping the spine in two. We've managed to gain entry through the break, and have carried out light surveys of all three sections.

"The ring appears to have been habitation, as we expected, although judging from the density they can hardly have carried the amount of colonists we would expect on a vessel this size. Our explorations into the central spine furnish the answer; it is filled with some sort of sarcophagi, a cryogenic storage system of sorts.

"Such a thing would allow them to carry a sizeable colonisation force, decanting them at the other end - the pilots might take turns awake, or resign themselves to growing old as the spacecraft was in transit. If any problems came up, they could decant the appropriate specialists to deal with it.

"All this is entirely speculation, of course, as we have yet to decode the alien alphabet."

That would be Cristiona's job, turning the hundreds of photographs (each labelled with it's location within the wreckage and annotated with what they thought whatever was nearby happened to be) into understandable words. The language would have changed, and there was the certain difficulty of matching a back-formation to glyphs in an unknown alphabet, but they had an AI on their side. Serai was confident the the Hacker could solve the problem.

Cristiona's eyes largely glazed over as the researcher talked about space ships, 'fizzing-fuses', discs, spines, 'de-cats', and other things that meant very little to her. She gasped at the stack of photographs dumped on her, muttering something disparaging about hardcopies before setting to work.

"I'm gonna be a hundred and two before I finish this..." She sighed, plugging her neural jack into her neck and setting to the task. The first thing she did was scan all of photographs into her datapad, the translation program searching for frequency of glyphs, placement, matching, and suchwise. The screen looked like something from a sci-fi movie, the glyphs flashing rapidly on the screen as the datapad attempted basic translation. Of course, it couldn't do everything itself. Languages were organic things, and needed a more delicate touch; needed more finesse. That was where Cristiona came in.

"We can hope not," Serai replied. "I doubt even the Researchers would be happy to hang around in the Taiga system for that long."

As the Hacker worked the Dragonfly flew south over the tundra, passing over herds of grazers and small polnynyas until the great wall of white became visible, the Southern limit of the Ailuridines' world. This far North it was glacial, slow-moving tongues of ice melting away in the spring; the Dragonfly purred on, over ice which stayed solid year-round, to where the base camp sat on the ice cap.

The Tsarainese had set to with a will, but it wasn't much to look at; prefabricated geodesic domes, inflatable tents, igloos covering storerooms. At one end an Anubis spaceplane sat on the ice, and they were bundled out of the Dragonfly and into it's crew bay with as little time in the polar chill as could be managed.

(And all this time, yet more images and information were being downloaded to the computers and handed on to Cristiona; the Researchers up on the moon were not resting idle on their laurels.)

Launch under antimagnetics was unlike much anything else; the Anubis lifted straight up from the ice, and up, and up, until the planet curved away below, became a green-blue marble. At no point did it strain the occupants; artificial gravity cushioned them from double-digit accelerations which would have crushed them otherwise.

Then the moon grew larger, an acne-scarred face similar to Luna, and a short while later the spacecraft itself appeared; a tower standing upright, it's upper half fallen flat upon the ground, with a twisted wheel around it. Small specks next to the wreck became three other Anubises, and a crew erecting yet another geodesic dome in the one-fifth gravity.

They set down beside the others, and in short order space-suited Tsarainese were boarding, cracking open their helmets, talking rapidly with animated voices and expansive gestures. They were clearly having the time of their lives.

"Want to come with us?" they asked, full of excitement. "I mean, you could stay here and we'll keep sending you images, but we're going back in in a little while. It's cool."

Several AU from Sahel Ai, Sahel System

They all knew when the 'Kfosi passed back into normal space from that other place. The steady hum of the transit engines died off, the aeryaghrana started up, and the stars reappeared; but you could tell before all that. It was something like a whole-body sneeze, or a heart attack (or an orgasm, some more libidinous crewmembers reported). Those who'd travelled widely on Earth said it was similar to some of the effects of fractal geography.

So; here they were in Sahel, carrying a nanoforge a hundred meters long and a jumpgate ten times that across. A short way in-system, drop off the gate, and then they could jump directly back to Sol.

Or not.

"Oh dear God Above be merciful," Retahn keiLaran complained, "How am I supposed to explain this to the crew?"

"You'll find some way, honey. They're reasonable people." Rei was one of the ship's engineers, whose usual duties were keeping the ancient Kymnari troopship running as a Tsarainese science ship. He'd been courting her for several months (or had she been courting him? It was reciprocal, which was good), but only in the last week had they moved from rather chaste affections to more serious things.

The old folk back on Earth might regard that three-month courtship as unduly fast, but aboard the 'Kfosi they'd hurried through it as fast as personal propriety allowed. Retahn knew there were a few couples who'd dispensed with it entirely; that was going too far, he thought, too fast.

"They're reasonable people," he agreed, "Who haven't set foot on Earth for several months now! It's always "Go look at this" or "Investigate that" or "Sorry, your accumulated leave will be added to your downtime when you get back". At this rate we'll be off duty for about a year."

"Would that be so bad?"

"No ..." he sighed. "But the point is, they can't just keep piling more things on and increasing the size of the carrot at the end of it. People need breaks properly interspersed, not giant holidays at the end of things!"

"Eventually they'll make another science vessel," Rei replied. "That'll decrease the load on us. For now ... they're doing their best, I'm sure. It can't be easy, managing all those people!"

Retahn supressed a scowl. Every time someone pointed out a problem - overworking the construction crews at Tenebris, or Mars, or indeed aboard the Eridhinrako y Kfosi, someone else raised the specter of the five billion squeezed into the Mother Country. That the population problem was dire he didn't deny; but it couldn't be a catch-all excuse, either.

"It's another planet, at least," Rei continued. "Or probably. If you're lucky we'll find another Tenebris. How does "Retahnistan" sound?"

He laughed at that. "Horrid. Perhaps "Reitopia"?"

"Ha! At least they bothered to jump in a drone freighter."

"They only did that because they needed a canhab for the Researchers here, and to command the gate. The fact that it has our supplies in it is incidental."

"Oh, you're such a pessimist. Things will work out."

Asteroid T/AA-054, Tenebris/Moon L5 Point, Tenebris System

Ekhano swore virulently as a spanner hit the deck a few meters from where he stood, and waved a rude reply at the suited figures on the far side of the shipyard tube. With no gravity to speak of, some idiot had dropped his tool, which had floated right across the bay to bounce back off the deck.

Newbies. There were a lot of them, because most of the turnover (cruel euphemism, "turnover", when most of it was due to people being killed) was in the people who'd been here the least time. Ekhano wasn't one of them; he was an acknowledged veteran, with five months and two promotions on this job. With a spacer's ease he found a foothold, and caught the drifting spanner before it could escape his reach. Fail to anchor yourself and it'd be you, not your gear, which went flying. Every couple of days a newbie went bouncing.

At least with the airlocks finally in place they couldn't go bouncing off into space any more. Suits with gas tanks had been going about, testing for leaks by the way their coloured gases flowed, and by now they were pretty sure there weren't any. This bay could be the first on the whole rock to get atmosphere, which would be a good deal nicer; the insides of these suits were pretty gamey by now.

Ah, automation. While the datapad did the grunt work of correlation and figuring out if the symbols represented sylabals, letters, whole words, or something else entirely, Cristiona had a little bit of time to herself. Taking advantage of this time, she took a quick shower to wash some of the dirt from her skin and to brush her teeth. She actually felt a little better, if nothing else, such a simple task made it seem more like she was at home.

She peered at the engineers with a skeptical eyes, "Judging by some of those pictures, I think I had better come with..." She shrugged, continuing quickly before they got mad at her, "The context was lacking at times. Sometimes you need more than what's just right next to the words."

"Sure!" the Researchers had an entire alien wreck to play in, and nothing could dent their cheer. "Have they fitted you for a suit? They didn't? God Above, it takes three weeks to get out here - I do wonder about those Star Command fellows sometimes. We'll see if we can find anything that fits."

The suit room of the Anubis was as cramped as the rest of it, a narrow hall lined with lockers. Some bore the names of the crew, while others bore size and body-type notations; when people ranged from five to seven feet, there was no such thing as "one size fits all". Once they'd found a suit which fit Cristiona, the Researchers ran her through the safety checks ("All the lights need to be green, and then you need to check it manually to be sure, and it should take care of you so long as you don't do anything stupid").

Then they filed out through the airlock one by one, and onto the surface of the moon.

"Ordainarily," one of the Researchers said (she'd introduced herself as Riane, a middle-aged woman who could have been most of Tsaraine's ethnicities), "We'd be standing in dust right now - like on Luna, it gets ground up into silicon dust. But the ship must have come down on it's drive - this is all blast glass, obsidian wastes, formed when the rock and dust melted. It's lucky for us, because the dust on Luna really tears up people's suits, and we can also tell how long ago it was by the radioactive decay - it turns out to be about two and a half thousand years old."

They entered the ring where it had crumpled on the ground, through a long jagged rip in the skin. Outermost was a layer of water ice ("To absorb radiation", Riane explained), followed by various pipes running beneath the floor; and then they were in a long corridor which stretched away ahead and behind until it curved out of sight. Because of the way the ship had fallen, they were standing on the rear walls, having come in through the floor.

"Try not to touch anything," Riane advised, "It may be fragile."

Cristiona simply nodded as she was fitted for a suit, figuring they knew what they were talking about, so there was no real need to argue. After getting suited up, she carefully attached the datapad to her left forearm. She simply needed to be able to see it; manipulation of its functions would take place through her link, saving her from needing to worry about using a stylus or suchwise.

Dutifully following the researchers, she made her way to the ruin of the ship, smiling a little at how old it was. She had only made rough guesses of age, but it seemed she was reasonably close. More importantly, it would help her judge how much the language had morphed; very useful for reverse engineering it.

She smirked at Riane's warning, "Well, of course not."

"This is just a corridor," Riane said, "So there isn't much you'd be interested in - there's various markings further on we think are directions, though. We found more in the rooms nearby - this part of the ring was crew quarters, or something like it - where the colonists stayed after they were decanted but before they were ferried to the planet, we think. Just over here."

A little way ahead a door opened in the wall underfoot. It hung down on it's hinges - clearly the builders had had no concern for pressurising it. They dropped down into the room one by one. The Tsarainese had been here before, and Cristiona might recognise it from their photographs; a large cabin furnished with equipment which might not have been out of place aboard a human vessel.

"We think some of them were still on board when it fell over," Riane continued, "Else they'd have packed up. You can see the occupant of this room never did that. We don't know where the bodies are, though."

The cabin was a mess - much the sort of mess you'd get if you took an already messy room and tipped it on it's side. Cabinets and draws hung open, and what might have been printouts were scattered underfoot - the Tsarainese stepped carefully, avoiding the debris. They photographed everything in position before they dared take a closer look.

"So there should be a reasonable amount for you here, all these papers and things - there are bottles in the cabinet there - and the posters on the walls. They're all over, so we had trouble avoiding standing on them."

Cristiona waited patiently until they were done photographing and then knelt down, picking up what appeared to be a printout. Something produced by a computer would be easier to figure out than a hand written note. Computers were far less sloppy than organics were. She slowly passed the paper over her datapad, letting it scan the writing and add it to its growing file of data. She did this with a few pieces of paper and then sat on the 'floor', looking at the papers. Both she and the datapad started comparing them, trying to tease out patterns.

Before Raine got too far away she looked up at the older woman, "Oh, if you guys find something that looks like a diary or a journal, could you bring it too me? It'd help a lot." After all, diaries often started the same way every time.

"Can do," Riane replied. She knelt carefully to cut a sample from the bedding - a crumpled heap of rugs, pillows, and mattress - and put each part in a sample bag. The sample bags were annotated, and went into a pocket on her leg. "I'll pass the word along, too.

"What I'm doing here is sampling the bedding, of course, by which we can find out if they used organic fibres or synthetics. That alone won't tell us much, but lots of little things do add up ...

"There are other cabins like this one along this stretch of the corridor - some of them we haven't looked into much, so we may find something interesting there."

Cristiona nodded, "Sure. I'll poke around when I'm done here."

She settled in and started reviewing the script, frowning slightly and biting her lip. She murmured under her breath, trying to figure out the language. It may be the root for 'modern' Ailuridine, but since she'd never seen that written, it didn't help much.

Several hours and several sheets of paper later, she was finally started to get a grasp of what was written. It wasn't unlike those cryptographic puzzles with scrambled letters, except that it wouldn't unscrable into English.

As Cristiona worked the Researchers came and went, occasionally bringing with them more or less interesting examples of text for her - more printouts, a few books, once a fallen wall panel bearing elaborate graffiti (or possibly an abstract mural). One of them remained with her when the other two went off - the rules forbade anyone to be left alone, for fear of accidents.

Cristiona was smiling happily when Riane returned to the room, "Progress!" She was actually looking something like the researchers had been when they discovered the ship. Oddly enough, the presence of the ship hadn't interested her in the slightest, being more curious about the language. Having made head-way, though, she was now almost bubbling with excitement. She was waving about a handful of papers, "This," she said almost dramatically, "is a status report of some type, dealing with one of the engines." She flipped to a schematic, "See? Here's the design, and they've marked the problem areas. It's a little technical, so I don't understand all of it, but I've got a good handle of the words. Kinda like how I don't understand the instruction manual for my PDA, but I know what the words are." She was practically beaming, "I can start to translate other things though!" She pointed at a tattered poster, "That, for instance, is a safety warning about not slipping on ladders."

Riane laughed. "I suppose the ladders are all horizontal now - we should avoid tripping on them. I found this for you, though, away along the corridor."

"This" was a slim book, perhaps the size of a notebook, bound in plastic.

"The leaves are plastic too," Riane explained, "Or at least something similar to plastic. I think it's a notebook or something of the sort, as you asked for, although I can't tell. Actually, you might be interested in the cabin we found it in, if you'd like to see it in context."

"Plastic...? Interesting..." He turned it over in her hands, wishing she could feel it, but resigning herself to doing so later. She looked up at the mention of the cabin, "Oh? Sure, this room's pretty boring, actually..." She shoved the notebook into a thigh pocket and followed Riane to the other cabin, wondering about the context.

The cabin was on the far side of the corridor, which meant it was a meter or so above their heads; the Tsarainese had fixed a stout rope to something on the inside, and they climbed up one after the other into the cabin.

Like the other cabin, this one had been tilted on it's side, scattering the belongings around their feet. It possessed the same layout - bed, cabinet, shelves.

"We found it in the cabinet," Riane explained, "Along with what might be magazines. They're made of the same stuff, so they should be safe."

She fetched them out; glossy, colourful things featuring Ailuridines strangely clad (or partially clad, or unclad), and more somber black-bound books embossed with gold.

"Ekhano thinks the black ones might be holy works," Riane said, "But they could be books of law, or piloting manuals, or How to Win Friends and Influence People. We don't know. The other ones - well, judging from the ratio of pictures to words, I'd say that's an odd disparity of reading material."

Various pictures hung at angles on the walls, or had fallen off and lay on the floor; what might have been watercolours, executed in an angular, stylised form, mainly of Ailuridines. Like the books, they ranged from sedate portraits to what the Tsarainese might have termed risqué.*

OOC: *It's important to recall that the Tsarainese are quite puritanical at times. By Federation standards this is probably old hat.

Cristiona nodded, flipping through the glossy 'magazines', smiling a little. The outfits were pretty cute, as were the models. She blinked a little as she flipped through, noticing that the models were being recycled in progressively less and less clothing. The back of the magazine was a series of models in nude poses; some poses were quite bold. This wasn't simply a photobook: the final poses made it quite clear that this was ancient Ailuridine pornography. She blushed softly as she flipped through it, trying to pretend she was reading the little blubs next to the photos ("Turn-offs include rude people, drug addicts, and poorly groomed fur...") before closing the magazine. "It's... um..." She blushed some more, "'Adult entertainment'..."

She set it down, trying not to think about the Ailuridine models inside. People with fur was nothing new to Cristiona, of course. One didn't grow up in the Federation without being exposed to it, both literally and figuratively; 'non-clothing', while not popular per se, but were far from uncommon. The paintings didn't strike her as particularly risqué, no more than she would consider a nude painted by an old master to be so. Of course, again, the mores of the Federation were decidedly different than the Tsarainese's.

She picked out one of the black bound books, mildly hoping it wasn't a holy work. She'd feel a little odd reading a religious text after looking at what amounted to smut (Nice smut though... ack! Stop it!) She flipped through the book, frowning a little, "Um... I don't quite understand what this is saying, but it looks like it's a book of laws or legal precidences or something like that." She set the book back down, "I'll scan it later since it'll help recreate their culture, but it's too technical to read now." She pulled out the notebook and started flipping through it.

Riane laughed. "I thought as much. I don't suppose we can blame the pilots for getting a little lonely during the voyage, if most everyone was frozen! You know, there's a school of thought that one can learn as much from a society's pornography as from it's holy works."

The magazines went into zip-lock bags, which Riane carefully labelled and stowed away as she did with everything else.

"Their laws? That could be very useful - what a culture enshrines in law is what it values, after all."

The notebook was filled with dense handwriting, the risers and descenders cramped together, but it seemed that the journals of the ancient Ailuridines were much the same to those of humanity;

10 Flint, Hindmost Rising 7513. Tiranae spoke to me today. He was worried about how much we will be leaving behind, and rightly so; we are leaving behind a great deal. We have already left a great deal behind on Sasei. I repeated the party line; we have to give up the accumulations of urban society if we want to live properly. The things we've brought with us are for the voyage only. But I felt a hypocrite; I am as false as those we've left behind, as Seven reminds me.

11 Flint, Hindmost Rising 7514. I spoke to Seven, who remains as inscrutable as ever. She says we false should not depend upon the sufferance of the true. Progressive thinking; a bit late for that now we're nearly at Raes. I asked her why she'd come, then, and she said she wanted to wait until we came back up. When I pointed out that we weren't planning to (how cynical she is! That we cannot hold the faith), she asked me how long the Eternal Wheel Empire lasted. She has a point.

12 Flint, Hindmost Rising 7515. Tiranae was frozen today; his replacement is Pisari, formerly of the Greater East Accord. Already I dislike the man - he is much too zealous - but what can I do? A false moderate has nowhere to argue from. Seven gave me a book I shan't name even here; we're not supposed to have such things, all we good little followers. But even the hardliners need Seven. The false guide the true, and how it galls them!

Cristiona nods, watching the items being tossed into bags, giving a slight shrug, "I suppose." She idly wondered what she could learn from Tsaraine's pornography. Or lack thereof, considering how repressed they seemed to be.

She skimmed the journal, a little surprized at what she was reading. She looked up at Riane, "Looks like their myth-cycle is reasonably accurate..." She flipped through a little more, "Seems their religion decided that they had to give up their technology..." She pointed to a section, translating it, "See? Right here: 'I repeated the party line; we have to give up the accumulations of urban society if we want to live properly.'"

She frowned a little and blinked, "Wait, didn't you say that this thing wasn't big enough for an entire civilization? Perhaps they're pilgrims, or a religious sepratist group. In a space faring society, they could easily go to another planet."

Riane nodded, her suit moving jerkily. "If the entire religion decided to give up their technology, they wouldn't need to go anywhere. Sounds like Revertionists - there's a community on Tenebris, they're into organic farming and natural housing and so forth. It's only possible because Tenebris has enough temperate areas to support them - if this society was becoming increasingly urbanised, religious reactionaries might well decide to make a break for it."

Cristiona nodded slowly, turning things over in her mind, "Yes... I think that's exactly what happened. Their stories referenced just what this journal is talking about." She blinked, "I think we should look for a firebird, or something similar. I wouldn't be surprized if the mythcycle was created by them, knowing that as the years went by, it'd slowly become the truth. They might have left something by such a mark, or something..." She stood up, "See, they mention the return of the firebird... that has to mean something too."

"A firebird? You mean a phoenix? We're a long way from Arabia," Riane said. "As for the return of the firebird, might that be a second expedition from wherever this ship came from? Then again, the ship itself could be the "firebird" - it flies, and that Orion drive might be akin to fire, to people without a word for "nuclear". Or it could be fiction added on - Christianity predicts the return of the Christ, after all, and the Rukines predict the Chrei'ghan. Doesn't mean they're going to happen."

Cristiona shrugged, "Well, this vessel doesn't look like a bird. Maybe the firebird was their coat of arms or something like that. I'm just thinking we should keep an eye out for it. It might be important." She handed over the journal, poking around the room a little more, finding some more 'interesting' reading material, but little else of note. She followed the researchers out of the room, looking for something else of note.

"There is that," Riane admitted. "We'll keep an eye out."

They dropped back down onto the far wall and continued along the corridor.

"We think the ring is mostly habitation space," Riane said, "And you've already seen about the average of what we'll find for that. If we want to find anything important, it'll probably be in the central spine. There's a connecting spar up ahead."

When the ship had been in space, the ring would have rotated to provide artificial gravity outwards; as one ascended the spars connecting it to the spine of the ship, the gravity would have dropped off, until at the center there was none. Now the pull of the moon fixed "down" as towards the rear of the ship, and they could walk along the inside of the spar, past elevator cars frozen in position.

Designed for zero-gee, the central spine was oriented more or less vertically, along it's length.

"Because it's right behind the pusher plate, the stern of the ship would get less radiation from the drive," Riane said, "So the bridge or what have you is probably down there. Fortunately, zero-gee design means handholds!"

There were rungs, as if for ladders, set into the walls, and they climbed downwards through echoing cylindrical sections.

"Probably these held cargo. The cyrogenic tanks are in the forward section, the part that broke off."

Further down, and the spine was seperated into smaller compartments, rooms and chambers which no longer took up the full width of the ship. In contrast to the mess of the outer ring, the spine seemed stripped bare of anything larger than a rivet. The doors were heavier, solid things which, if they weren't airlocks, could at least keep air in. The chambers beyond them were airless.

"Now this looks like something."

The next door was an airlock, both doors jammed half open; they slipped below them and into a much larger room. All around stood computer terminals, accompanied by impressively complicated chairs; in the center six squat pillars surrounded a seventh.

"Well, I think this may be the bridge..."

Cristiona was mostly quiet as they made their way 'up' the spine, focusing on the occational sign and listing as the layout was described to her. While it was neat and all, it wasn't particularly interesting to her as she was more focused on not tripping and falling or anything like that.

Her eyes lit up as they entered the bridge. Now this was interesting! She moved from position to position, looking to see what she could find, hoping beyond all reasonable hope that one of the stations might still have power. Otherwise, she was just hoping for keypads with symbols on them.

There were indeed keypads; most were flat mats bearing labelled bumps for keys, but before each station were a few more conventional, mechanical keys.

Riane tapped at a key, which stuck. "Oops!" she said, "I don't think the warranty holds for vacuum and subzero temperatures. We'll need to get air and heaters in here, but I think we can justify it, and I'm sure we have the equipment - the 'Sukal has everything. It'll take some time, though."

She radioed their find back to the spaceplanes, and after a short while reported her results. "There's a team on it's way from the forward section, and they're sending more people and equipment down in the fourth spaceplane. Do we wait here, or head back?"

Cristiona smirked wryly at Riane, "Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't you admonish me to not touch anything?" She giggled softly and turned back the the keypad she was studying, taking a few notes with her datapad.

She sighed softly, "It'll be hard to learn much without power..." She shrugged a little, "We might as well stay for now, I can take notes on the mechanical keys." He smirked, "If I'm lucky, I might be able to guess what the others would do."

Results of Analysis of TESEC Survey System #336 "Fenris" - Data Analyst Aira arKiadt

Survey Vessel(s): FTL Probe Craft N-044, TASC Eridhinrako y Kfosi

The Fenris system lies around a hundred light-years rimwards of Sahel. While skipped by the semi-random Treznorikh surveys (Fenris is a binary star system, and thus too dissimilar to Sol for the Treznorikh criteria), it was earmarked for attention under the Search for Sunlike Stars, as one of the pair is a G2 yellow dwarf star.

The system was explored initially via remote probe, and the Eridhinrako y Kfosi was dispatched upon promising probe results.

System Overview:

Geri and Freki: As a binary system, the Fenris system possesses two stars, which have been named Geri and Freki after the wolves of Odin, in keeping with the Norse and lupine name assigned to the system.

Geri is a yellow dwarf very similar to Sol, orbiting the common barycentre at 40.21 AU. There may be plasma-based "suncritters" dwelling in it, but this is difficult to confirm.

Freki is an F5 blue dwarf, hotter, brighter, and more massive than Sol, orbiting the barycentre at 29.79 AU. As Freki is thus the inmost body, we shall adress it's satellites first.

Freki I is a small planetoid of 1,554km diameter, with a highly elliptical orbit carrying it very close to the sun. Because of this, the surface of the planetoid is unusually featureless; the surface itself will melt at perihelion, removing any impact craters accumulated further out in it's orbit. Any volatiles have long since boiled off, and the planet is similar to Mercury in composition. It would be useful industrially if only we did not already have more than enough iron.

Freki II is another small planetoid, 3,734km in diameter, orbiting at 0.71 AU. Like Freki I it is largely mercurial in composition, although unlike it it has a more circular orbit, and a heavily cratered surface.

Freki IIa is a captured asteroid 29km across, irregular in shape. It is a carbonaceous chrondrite asteroid, and may be a useful source of volatiles for the inner system.

Freki III is a planet 10,087km in diameter, with a surface gravity of 0.55G. It orbits at 0.94 AU - barely in the life zone for a Sunlike star, but well outside it for an F5 like Freki. It is best described as a "hot Mars" (although contrarily, the night side is very cold), being a heavily cratered and rifted desert planet with a thin carbon dioxide and ammonia atmosphere. Unlike Mars it does have some signs of tectonic activity; there are spotty chains of volcanoes across the lower Eastern hemisphere.

Freki IIIa is a rocky moon 2,980km in diameter, similar in type to Luna and tidally locked. Some unknown event has left the far side a reddish colour.

Freki IIIb is a captured ferrous asteroid 47km across, irregular in shape.

Freki IV is a planet 14,735km in diameter, with a surface gravity of 1.12G. It orbits at 1.62 AU, within the life zone, and the orbit is somewhat more elliptical than Earth's. It has a high degree of axial tilt, 37 degrees, which influences the climate (see below). The day is a little over 20 hours long. The reason for both of these factors is evident in a large (roughly 2,200km in diameter) impact basin in the Northern hemisphere, where a massive asteroid or small planetoid must have struck the planet in prehistory.

Other, smaller, impact craters are scattered across the planet. While many must be formed by ejecta from this crater, many are newer or older; the Fenris system has a high number of asteroids, which contributes to the state of the planets.

Freki IV possesses carbon-based life moderately similar to Earth's. Due to the planet's axial tilt, there are no true deserts, as almost all areas receive seasonal rainfall; the biota has evolved to take advantage of this, being most active during the seasonal rains. The seas are particularly well-stocked, with a flourishing marine ecosystem.

Most of the continental area is concentrated in the Eastern hemisphere, leaving the Western hemisphere covered in island chains. Tectonic activity is well evident in many active volcanoes.

The Freki IV Debris Belt is a ring of generally fine debris in orbit around the equator, likely ejecta from the large impactor.

Freki IVa is a Lunar moon 5,636km in diameter, tidally locked with the planet below. Like the planet it is heavily cratered.

Freki IVb is a captured irregular ferrous asteroid 110km across. Freki IVc is similar, but only 34km across.

Geri I is an administrative division for two planetoids orbiting each other at 0.55 AU of Geri. Both Geri Ia and Geri Ib are rocky worlds, devoid of volatiles and poor in metals. Ia is 3,487km in diameter, and Ib 3,747km; they are 400,000km apart and complete a revolution every sixty days. The planetoids are tidally locked; as Ia shields the inwards face of Ib from many meteor impacts, and vice versa for Ib, these sides are "cleaner" than the outward faces of the planetoids.

Where the models of planetary formation predict there should be a second planet, however, there is nothing at all; this lack is problematic in our simulations, which are being revised to account for the discrepancy.*

Geri II is a life-bearing terrestial world 10,832km in diameter, with a surface gravity of 0.91G, orbiting Geri at a distance of 1.04 AU. As the gravity suggests, it is denser for it's size than Earth, and possesses more heavy elements. This has contributed to greater tectonic activity, and thus higher and more numerous mountains than Earth.

In contrast to Freki IV, Geri II possesses an axial tilt of only 6 degrees, meaning that seasonal variations are essentially unnoticeable.

The planet possesses a highly diverse collection of megafauna spread across eight major continents, similar genetically if not in morphology with Terrestial life; again in contrast with Freki IV, whose biota is dissimilar both morphologically and genetically.

It should be noted that "similar genetically" does not mean "of a common origin"; it indicates only a certain level of homogeneity in terms of molecular structure, due to convergent evolution. This is evident in the biota of Tenebris and Taiga, and to a lesser extent Sahel. The biota of Freki IV are dissimilar to the point of being almost entirely indigestible to Terran life.

It is theorised that carbon-based life follows a few most probable solutions in terms of genetic makeup; the same sorts of amino acids, the same sorts of cells. While there are a few common variations to this, nothing truly odd has yet been discovered; the biota of Freki IV is dissimilar, but not as much as might be expected.**

Geri IIa is a small moon 1,893km in diameter, and similar to Luna in composition; like Luna, it possesses little of value.

Geri IIb is a smaller moon 733km in diameter, identical to IIa in composition.

Geri III is a small planet 9,258km in diameter, with a surface gravity of 0.98G (and thus very dense, having a large amount of heavy metals). It orbits 1.36 AU from Geri, just inside the life zone, and indeed it possesses life; simple lichen-like mats of algae thrive in the planet's shallow, hypersaline oceans. Although it has a large amount of surface water, most of this is locked up in massive ice caps covering sixty percent of the planetary surface.

Geri IIIa, IIIb, IIIc and IIId are small captured asteroids of twelve, twenty-three, forty-six and eighteen kilometers across respectively. IIIa and IIIb are ferrous, while IIIc and IIId are carbonaceous chrondrites.

In semi-stable orbits around both Geri and Freki are large belts of asteroidal material, thinning out as their orbits increase and merging with the thin belt orbiting both stars.

Fenris I is the largest body in this group, a ferrous asteroid or planetoid 1,298km in diameter; compare Ceres in Earth's asteroid belt.

Fenris II is the system's sole gas giant, at 160,224km in diameter some twelve percent larger than Jupiter. It orbits both stars at 426 AU from the barycentre, and the atmosphere is composed primarily of hydrogen and helium. There are extensive planetary rings, and some two dozen nondescript moons.

OOC:
*I couldn't think of another planet to put here.
**This bullshit is basically me making up an explanation as to why the ecosystems of various planets are at least partially compatible with Earth's. I regard it as more interesting if they can mesh at least partially.
Taiga post to come shortly.

Riane laughed; she couldn't see Cristiona's smirk - their faces were hidden inside the suits, after all - but she could hear the amusement in her voice.

"I suppose I did," she replied. "Do as I say, not as I do? I'm not quite perfect yet ..." she laughed.

While Cristiona worked, the Researchers explored, taking notes of their own. The bridge was a half-circle, with a smaller bulge into the straight side; it was there the ring of pillars stood.

"What? That can't be right ... why should there be any of those here?"

Clustered in a far corner were a few dozen squat, featureless cylinders, about two meters tall and half that across.

"They're cryogenics pods," Riane told Cristiona, "Like the ones in the forward section, though I've no idea why they'd be here. They're obviously installed later; you can see where they've moved consoles to fit them in."

"Safety?" Ekhano suggested. "I'd expect this part of the ship to be more heavily protected than the rest. Especially considering that the front end, where all the others are, fell off."

Riane laughed. "We'll see what the forward team thinks, when they get here - they've been working in that end of the ship."

But the forward team had no more clues than Riane, and neither did the crew from the spaceplane who arrived after them; but they sealed off all the doors and vents, lugged in a portable atmosphere recycler and microreactor through a temporary airlock, and began to pump air into the bridge.

The first attempts were no good; they'd missed spots on the seals, and the air escaped. Finally they managed to get it to stay, and the Tsarainese cracked open their suits. Their breath fogged in the chilly air, but soon disappeared as the reactor began to hum.

"The problem with this model is that it has really poor heat dissipation," one of the new arrivals explained. "We'll be down to shirtsleeves soon."

Other Researchers were applying themselves to the power supply, testing the cables with various esoteric methods to discover what current it had once carried. After a while, they began prying up flooring panels.

Cristiona giggled softly, "That's what mom used to say when I'd question her about occationally ignoring the Kosher rules." She babbled off something in Yiddish, using an almost comically thick accent, and giggled some more. She switched back and adopted an equally thick accent, just in an understandable language, "Oy, these kids today..."

She poking at one of the flat keypads, less worried about it sticking when a memory reared up in her mind and knocked on her brain, asking to be acknowledge. "Wait a second..." she murmured. Reaching through her wireless connection to her keypad she activated its holographic projector. A small, flickering image of the ship floated an inch or so above the face plate, showing the craft in its current, delapidated state. Running through a couple programs, she straightened the ship out, showing what it should have looked like. She sighed and shook her head, "Oh, I'm an idiot. This is one of the Firebird eggs!"

She clucked her tongue sitting and turning the mythcycle over in her head, hopping up when the cryo-chamber was found, "Of course!" She smiled, "How's this strike you? It was said that the First Ones went back to dwell inside the eggs of the Firebirds, right? What if some of the people had second thoughts about this whole... um... 'anarcho-primativism', and decided to bugger off? They didn't want to abandon their friends, so they re-froze themselves.

"The myth states that eventually the Firebirds would come back. I bet they planned to skip over a bunch of years, and then check back up on their friends' decendants, to see how they were doing. I bet the Firebirds are shuttles, not unlike our own. The computronium is said to be a heart bone of the Firebird... I bet one of them crashed, and that was all that was salvageable. Besides, and exploding craft certainly would fit the fire motif." She looked around the bridge and sighed, "Sounds like their plans failed miserably..." She looked at the chambers, "They're dead, aren't they?"

Riane shrugged. "All I know of their myths is second ... no, third-hand, so I don't know to be sure. Your theory makes sense, though, at least from what I can see; a shuttle would certainly be more bird-like than this big thing!

"I couldn't tell you if they're dead or not, or even if there's anything in those tanks. I haven't been studying them."

"All the tanks in the forward section are definitely empty," one of the members of the forward team contributed, "And these ones aren't. We can't be sure what they're full of without opening one, though, and that might have adverse reactions on whatever's inside."

Over at the other side of the bridge, the Researchers had tracked the power relays to a mains cable which disappeared into the wall, and were busy about it with various equipment.

"Stand clear! Three, two, one ..."

One of them flipped a switch, and power from the microreactor entered the junction they'd spliced into the cable. Across the bridge, the lights came on.

Cristiona frowned a little. These people could jump across vast interstellar space, but they couldn't see what was inside a metal tube? Feh. She was positive that there were Ailuridine inside the tubes, probably old, but first generation. She was also positive they were dead. After all, didn't cryogenic chambers need power to work properly? She couldn't imagine that they had two thousand year batteres.

However, her concerns were almost immediately erased as the bridge sprang to life. She quickly moved to one of the terminals, watching it run through a self diagnostic and power up. The lights flickered across the keypad as it slowly lumbered to life. She watched eagerly, waiting for it to reach a point where she could start fooling around with it.

Squarish symbols in the ancient syllabaric script flickered black on white on the screens.

Error message: Cannot locate subunit Primal Pattern. Subunit Primal Pattern erased 7 Chert Hindmost Rising 7,777.

Error message: Cannot locate subunit Backup Pattern. Subunit Backup Pattern erased 7 Chert Hindmost Rising 7,777.

Alternative action: Activating subunit Basic Systems Operator (Read-Only). Starting up ...

Yuka, if somehow you're reading this, you'll have realised what I've done. Why I did it will have to wait; they're fighting me as I write this. I can't hold out much longer; for regressives their agents are better than I anticipated. Tell the descendants to search groundside.

- Seven (Message left 6 Chert Hindmost Rising 7,776)

Greetings, friend! Welcome to the Basic Systems Operator. Technicians are currently working to restore advanced systems operability, so if you don't have an urgent request, please wait! Advanced systems will be restored as soon as possible. To avoid problems during the short downtime, the Basic Systems Operator is read-only. We apologise for any problems this may cause.

If you have an urgent request, please type it below.

Cristiona blinked, unsure if her fears had been realised, or if this was just another piece of the puzzle that didn't make a bit of sense. "Cannot locate pattern...?" she murmured. She frowned a little, trying to figure out what could have happened and idly wishing she had learned more programming.

"I... think... that the... girl who was in the diary was having second thoughts and tried to do something... it also looks like several files were erased, probably by the... wait a minute..."

Wheels started to mesh and the story started to take shape in her mind. It was still missing great big chunks of data, but it was starting to come together. It had all the potential for a great tragedy. Thinking out loud, she started to piece things together, "Seven was called a 'false' by the author, who I think is Yuka... She, apparently, was fully expecting the people to give up and come back to the ship... I think that someone named 'Pisari' was her rival -- he was mentioned as being very zealous... Seven did... well... something... perhaps she was to stay up here...? Anyway, she sent something back to the planet... possibly the computronium? I think she was killed for it... but her files were read only, so they weren't deleted... other things were... maybe the 'regressives' tried purging the computer system?" She sighed, "I'm not much of a programmer..."

She peered at the message, knowing that no technicians were doing anything, and that she could wait until the star devoured the planet and she still wouldn't have an answer. She peered at the keys before carefully typing:

Load personal log: Seven

OOC: I'm willing to spend as much time as you are fooling around with the computer, trying to tease out clues :)

We are sorry! Seven has no matches in the ship's personell files. Do you mean: 7504760-FJ4?

Loading personell file: 7504760-FJ4.

Name: 7504760-FJ4
Age: n/a*
Birthplace: n/a*
Gender: n/a*
Kith: n/a*
Occupation: In-flight crew; crew coordinator, network manager
Personal weight allowance: n/a*
Medical conditions: n/a*
...

The list was long, and most entries were marked non-applicable. Some explanation was avaliable in sparse notes appended to the file;

Notes:
7504760-FJ4 is a False creation, and thus many True attributes do not apply. Below we attempt to provide estimates and analogues for the True viewer;

Age: Eight Risings objective time, possibly eighty subjective. Became operational 40 Slate, Gyre Rising 0,557; terminated 7 Chert, Hindmost Rising 7,777.
Birthplace: Became operational in the networks of the Fourteenth Position Association (physical location Augaes Highside Station, geosynchronous orbit over Augaes, Sasei).
Gender: Obviously inapplicable. Used baseline-similar avatar 16 Shale, Sideways Rising 9456 to 7 Chert, Hindmost Rising 7,777.
Kith: Baseline-similar avatars conformed with Fourteenth Position Association's Neutral/Global Descent Model #13.
Personal weight allowance: Budgeted into ship operational mass.
Medical conditions: Non-applicable to standard medical technology. Primal and Operational patterns off-limits to technicians as agreed in contract.
...

OOC: I could possibly write more, but it's getting late and I can't think of it right now. I'm sure you get the picture. ;)

"No wonder she stayed active and was called a false!" Cristiona laughed and clapped her hands, "Seven was an AI! Probably the personification of the ship's computer!" She blinked, "No wonder she was able to write a going away note while under attack... it was probably done as they tried to erase her core..." She blinked and sighed, "Luddite bastards..."

She frowned at the screen, "So... how could they erase the Primal pattern? It was supposed to be off limits..." She chewed on her lip, "Did they just unplug her? No... says erased... so how did they...?"

Load system activity log: 7504760-FJ4

Loading file: 7504760-FJ4 Systems Activity Log...

The log was no more than a technical list; 7504760-FJ4 accessed remote server Raes Spaceport Control, remote user Haireun Kiis-Atansa disabled file outgoing message laser usage monitor ... but to someone who could piece together the spaces between the lines, a story could be told.

Seven had refused to offer up a scant handful of remaining personell to the groundside authorities, had fired upon the shuttle sent to retrieve them. Froze (somehow) the organic False, prepared for the True counterattack.

She had destroyed their systems, but the True had no DNI, were working with keyboards and screens; they could do far more damage to Seven than Seven could do to them. They had deleted what might pass for her "mind" (or her "soul"), and erased the backup. After that, nothing.

Cristiona stared at the characters on the screen and then looked at the cyrogenic contains. The screen; the containers. Speaking softly, as much to herself as to anyone, she murmured, "Froze the organic False... Oh my God..." Her mind whirled with the implications: her physical avatar might be in one of those containers, but with her data erased, thawing the body might result in a mindless sack of meat. Her fingers trembled a little. If they could retrieve a backup and if they could thaw her, they might be able to restore the ship's computer!

The Heartbone! She gasped softly at the thought. The Ailuridine tribe they had been with had Seven's mind and soul. How in the world could such a thing possibly be explained to someone like Aiska? 'Hi! I would like to take your religious artifact and bring back something your ancestors tried to destroy!' Somehow, she didn't think that would work very well.

Run diagnostic: Current status

Current status of user 7504760-FJ4; terminated 7 Chert, Hindmost Rising 7,777 for the crime of treason. Authorised by the Guiding Council 5 Chert, Hindmost Rising 7,775.

OOC: Aiee, le short!

Cristiona blinked back tears, holding on to the hope that the 'Heartbone' that Andzai had was indeed Seven's core. She barely knew the AI, but was horrified at the actions of the ancient Ailuridines. How could they think technology was evil? Granted, she was rather biased about the whole thing, but still...

Run diagnostic: Current status: New Dawn

We're sorry, but the Basic Systems Operator can't run systems diagnoses. You'll need to wait until systems technicians have the ship's advanced systems back up. Please be patient - our technicians are working as fast as they can!

If you wish, you can access the most recent status report of the New Dawn, generated at 84:35:08 5 Chert, Hindmost Rising 7,775.

The New Dawn retains structural integrity despite the unplanned/unauthorised landing upon the inner moon; possible stress fractures around section 11 of the spine will not be problematic in the forseeable future. Habitation ring spin has been stopped.

Use of the drive is compromised by the ship's position; drive activation is forbidden under any circumstances. No shuttles are currently docked (groundside authorities will arrange a flight within the next few days). Food, water, and air supplies will last one-sixth of a Rising at current (20 personell) consumption levels, or five-sixths of a Rising recycled.

Network communication with the spaceport has been re-established following the landing, and is operating at 40% efficiency.

"Hmm... interesting." Cristiona continued talking mostly to herself, but loud enough that the other researchers could hear if they were so inclined. She ran her fingers over the console sadly, "You poor thing... you shouldn't even be here..."

She resumed typing: Contact spaceport.

The Researchers were hanging on her every word, clustered around the screen like moths to a candle.

We're sorry, but the communications laser is not responding. Please try again later.

Cristiona frowned, "Well, shit... damn thing..." She blinked, "Of course, I'm sure we would have noticed an orbiting station." Her finger tapped at the console, drumming softly as she thought about the situation. "We need that relic... Hm."

Load personal log: Yuka
Load personal log: Pisari