NationStates Jolt Archive

The barge floated lazily in the upper Neptunian atmosphere, lattice-work and sails keeping it roughly within the boundries of its allotted teritory. Tiny, spider-like drones scrambled all over, patching micro-holes, adjusting the sail, and performing various other bits of maintenence work. Tough, spherical drop ships plunged down into the depths of the planet, shrugging off impossible pressures on their trek to the molten surface of the gas giant.

The spheres bobbed like metallic bouys in the core of Neptune, making use of obscure gravity-manipulation projectors to drag diamonds to them. Others depressurized rapidly, their hulls shuddering with the urge to implode, while their cargo of carbon compressed.

Slaving away on a strange barge on the core was Esther. Her drones were too delicate for work in such an environment, so she was forced to perform the tasks herself. One of the factories was already complete, but she intended on all but covering her plot of 'land' with more of them, eventually slaving them together into a single, giant factory.

The factories pulled in gaseous particles from the atmosphere, ripped them apart on a sub-atomic level, recombined them into carbon, and sent them along for diamond conversion. A small portion of the original factory was designated for research (elements under pressure, metallic hydrogen, etc.), but it was to be a minor aspect of the general plan.

Esther was not a scientist like Elijah or Josua, nor a diplomat like Habakkuk or Ezekiel; she was an artist; an artisan. Even as she designed systems to tear apart atoms and redistribute them as needed, she did so with an artist's eye. Even in the manufactor of little industrial diamonds, she was as critical as any gemologist or jeweler.

And when she crafted gem quality diamonds, they were objects to behold. Not only were they structurally perfect -- to rate them as FL would be an insult -- but they were also perfectly colorless. She used exacting methods for cutting and polishing as well; the end result being some of the most perfect and visually stunning gemstones in existance. As of yet, she had only produced two such stones (one for herself, and one sent back to Mercury), partially because her perfectionism (that same perfectionism that had reduced several seemingly perfect stones into little piles of industrial grade diamonds) made them so time consuming when she had other duties to attend to. Still, there would be time later.

All things considered, it was going quite well on Neptune. Before too long she'd have things running smoothly enough to start taking commissions.

Given the average population density of a gas giant, Neptune could by now be considered 'Hyperurbanised'. Barges and mining outposts and cities of somewhere between two and six different nations floating around in the gaseous environment, usually trying to extract helium, occasionally simply living there, and, in one particular case, engaging in large-scale solid-material mining.

Well, it's certainly having novelty value, the barge Windbreaker thought while having perhaps 90% of her sensory capacities pointed in the direction of a point roughly twentythousand kilometers corewards, 'watching' the proceedings with growing interest while surfing a few winds going at perhaps 1500km/h. Weee!

Rather impressive, ne? came the (Unwanted, but what could she do?) reply by the Methane Surfer.

Hrm. Didn't realise I'd made this an open transmission. But you're right. She giggled a little, remembering a few rants by Methane Surfer from a few days ago, about the comparatively poor attempts of a few pointy-eared nations to get to the surface of Uranus. Caloris seemed to be significantly more capable than the Thelasi, or the Noldor in Taurenor.

But then, well, who wasn't? Though not only impressive, also profitable.

Definitely. Wonder when Sandra will go down there, I heard she wanted to visit Esther in her backyard.

Hee... Cityminds can be odd.

Indeed.

The two continued their chatter, rather undisturbed, while watching on. After all, it was exceptionally fascinating, and neither of the two had actually expected that there would be a factory constructed down there.

It almost made them envious, given their couple-ten-thousand-bar limit preventing such a descent. Frustrating, that.

The two ship-suited engineers floated in the capsule, upper bodies lost inside an open panel. Muffled voices eminated.

" So just where is he ? "

" The sales suit ? Last I saw, crouched in a ceiling corner in his bed-room compartment, retching again, and again, and again, and batting away globs of his own - "

" Ewww. I said where, not ... never-mind. Did you tell him to stow back in normal - "

" Yeah ... He refused to move an inch, of course ... "

They both grinned, as one of the two flicked a switch. A moment later, both " fell " out of the panel-spot, and landed lightly on their feet. Down the corridor out-side the capsule, how-ever, there was an over-loud thump, a series of curse words, and then those were then cut by a loud, damp groan.

The engineers snickered. One turned to the other,

" Okay, you better go tell her we're almost there, too. "

" Boys ! BOYS ! You fixed IT ! "

The both cringed, and turned. In the hatch-way stood a large woman with frizzy, wild red hair. And glassy eyes that shone from both intelligence, and having a serious fucking screw loose. She also packed a bust that could, well, likely bust a tank, if given the chance. They wondered how long she'd been there, looking up between their legs of course, they'd bet. Some-one, one-day, would end up plucking up enough courage to try to file a ...

" Yess'm. We've got full Mars Gee's again, so - "

" Boys, boys, BOYS ! How many times MUST you make me ask ? Call me Hilda ... "

--- --- --- --- ---

In the cold expanse of space above Neptune, the skeleton-rig, cargo-dumper hung like a mad-mans chrome encrusted christmas-tree, strung with bin upon spun-silicate weave bin, full to the brim with pure powdered carbon. Under it, a likely client was floating around on the planet. The ship took up position, and -

" Hello ? Esther, isn't it ? I ADORE the name, darling. SOOO cute, but listen, this is Hilda Smith of This United State, Lawyer, listen ear, listen, we've got a, well, a sort of delivery for you, and I'd just LOVE to have a quick chat, if you've the time ! Maybe cut a deal or two. Ack, must dash dear, have to go knock a few heads together to keep things ship-shape, HAHAHA ! "

...

If Esther had seen transcripts of the original meeting between T.U.S. and D.A. and others, well, they'd maybe wonder what a lawyer was doing on a bulk merchant ...

In fact, if Esther had seen transcripts of the original meeting between T.U.S. and D.A. and others, well, she might be just a bit afraid ...

Yes; you were expected. Please follow the transmitted coordinates for docking with The Continental. Esther is currently on the surface. She has been alerted to your presence and will be making her way up shortly. The DiploDrone's voice was friendly enough, but it was clear that this was a largely preprogrammed reply. It might be nice, but it certainly wasn't sentient.

The Continental wasn't much to look at either; it was a prime example of form following function. In this case, function had bent form over the table and made a bitch out of it. While there were pressurized areas with atmosphere, they weren't very large; Esther didn't appear to have much interests in guests. The vast majority of the barge was dedicated to automated systems, shuttling carbon down and diamonds up. Small vessels would also occationally make the trip up to drop off Der Angsts cut of the industrial gems.

Hilda and her associates were forced to wait around for nearly an hour before the electronic voice mentioned that Esther was on her way. The cargo, of course, had long since been unloaded from the ship and reloaded into drop ships. Efficiency was the word of the day.

A few minutes after the voice announced that Esther was on her way, she actually arrived. Like the other LiMEs, she was a shimmering silver. Unlike the other LiMEs, she most certainly wasn't a department store dummy: much like her Biblical namesake, she was staggeringly beautiful, perfect in every way, just like her diamonds. She wore a pair of overalls that had various gemological tools; she was either coming here after working some gem-quality stones, or fully intended to do so after this conversation.

She looked the role of The Artist. Specifically, she looked pissed off that she was here as opposed to working. "Can I help you?"

" Oh, JOLLY good. Just marvelous ! Don't keep me on the edge of my seat you know ! HAHAHA ! "

And so for just over an hour Hilda sat quite quietly, hands clasped together on the table before her, a grin which was both distant and highly disturbing ( Shall we say that a " Killer Clown " comes to mind right away ? ... ) plastered onto her face while she waited in the ships pocket break-room. Mean-while the anonymous sales suit lay in his cabin, perspiring out a plethora of anti-nausea medications he'd forced upon himself, that is those of what remained as the few of which he'd had any success at keeping down long enough to actually absorb rather than redecorate the room with.

Pity the cleaning bots.

Anyway, the two techs, now standing well behind Her and out of Her view and down the main corridor, having since finished observing the off-load ( And taking some notes, with little shame ) briefly discussed something of importance to them :

" You know, with what's-his-face being ill, one of us should go with Her I suppose ... "

" Oh no you don't - "

" Oh no I don't what ? I was just saying that maybe "

" Oh no you don't dare suggest that I'm the one to - "

While still " deciding " ( At about that point with girlish slaps ) over who wasn't going where with who and why - they failed to notice Hilda stand, approach the comms console in the wall of the break-room before it even pinged to signal a new message, and at which she read the brief message transcript and then passed out of view, that same ... joyous grimace straining her facial muscles still. Moments later, Hilda made her way via a another passage to the main air-lock. A quick check of what was out-side and -

" Can I help you ? "

The smile, no, grin, no, grimace, no - the expression upon a narcotic chomping , Stephen King-esque Eater of Worlds ( Amoungst other things ) grew wider, if that was at all still more-so possible.

" But my DEAR ! ", came a voice that was bred of fog-horns and could grate raw carrot at more than a dozen paces in a heavy rain, " The question is " How I can help YOU ! "

She stepped out of the air-lock towards Esther, and it shut quickly behind her, as if even the craft which carried her bulk was happy to see the back of her. Well, not literally, happy you know, to see her back, and so also her -

Back on the rig, every external camera and system by which the place could be monitored suffered " Scheduled Maintainence ", to the surprise of the Techs. Then, considering this trip ...

Meanwhile, the mass of flesh which one would call the face of Hilda rippled and bent like something both CGI, Horror Movie, and " Two Thousand Snakes Fighting Under a Big Latex Blanket ". Her hand jerked up and swept her hair up into a spontaneous, fire-ruby hue, bee-hive affair - ( Not the with bee's, honey, or fear of fungal attack kind. Well, much less so on that last one you'd expect ) all the while an expression much more serious, sane and actually of-this-world replaced her previous features, those them-selves more human like every passing second. It should have been quite an impressive transmogrification for some-one who wasn't, say, a LiME ... And after a few seconds she gave an air that was quite, well, normal. So, in fact, was her voice.

" My most sincere apology for all that dear, but the show must go on, till the stage gets blown apart or up and runs away to perform yet another day, I guess. But enough of that, I'd like to keep this as quick as you do, I suppose ? I for one would rather like to get home soon, to put Her back in Her box until I need Her again. "

And in a completely business-like fashion she put forward her ( now ? ) perfectly manicured right hand forward expectantly while stating in a crisp voice :

" Let us try this again. Hilda Smith, Deputy Head of Group Five Consulting. Also known as the This United State Secret Service, not that many people do know it. Do keep it under your hat, if you could. "

OOC : That is all for now. Will query re : feed-back on IRC next we meet. May add a bit on, but giving Esther chance to, ummm, react ... for now, is all.

Diego was up to his neck in work. The colonization was in full swing and you could hardly hear yourself think on the bridge to the Endeavor. Ships and drones hummed around the massive vessel like bees around a hive and Diego would like nothing better than to escape it all.

As he sat in his seat next to the Admiral they hardly took notice of each other as they commanded various vessels and still had problems with communication. They decided it probably would be best to just use encrypted beams since every vessel monitored them to some degree.

As they worked Diego noticed some commotion being detected on Neptune by several drones. Upon confirmation he was informed that The Caloris Basin was down there...Mining? Well whatever they were doing they were causing a significant amount of traffic to he assumed it was something of some level of importance.

Diego got up and walked over to his terminal and opened a transmission. It was intented to reach the Continental. Since these people were the reason so many Largentians were having hopes of moving to Mercury he figured it was the least he could do to say 'hi' and perhaps offer a hand with anything.

##Open Standard Diplomatic Link##
##To: The Continental##
##From: The LNS Endeavor##

Greetings from the Largentian colonization fleet. We have just taken notice of your presence in the area and felt obligated to extend a greeting and extend a helping hand should you ever need it. It is the least we can do to repay your generosity. We also have reason to believe that you are conducting some form of mining and should you ever seek a buyer, well, Largentians are quite materialistic.

##Link Terminated##

Rubbing his temples, Diego returned to his monotinous task of commanding the vast expanse of forces at his disposal. And to think that hours ago he had been sipping Angstian drinks and exganging pleasantries in the comfort of a diplomats office. He took his seat and checked all the monitors.

Initiate CommandKey \\:\\:entrncomm\\tightbeam:lnsendeavor
Return //://:entrncomm\\tightbeam:lnsendeavor Successful

Hello. Rather busy, myself but it's nice to meet the neighbors.

I'm not mining, per se, rather I am creating diamonds by making use of the pressure at Neptune's core. Since I can tolerate it and, well, pretty much nobody else can, it makes things nice and easy for me.

Should you wish to cash in on this opportunity, feel free to send a diplomat to The Continental and we can see about setting up an arrangement for you to send me carbon, and for me to return diamonds.

~Esther

Initiate CommandKey \\:\\:closeroute
Return //://:closeroute Successful

-----

Esther's expression was, in a word, unamused. She coolily accepted Hilda's hand and shook it, keeping the look of disdain from her features. She nodded blandly as Hilda rattled off her title, far from impressed, "My... hat. Yes, sure. Is there something I can do for you, Ms. Smith of Group Five Consulting? I'm quite busy."

Hilda shrugged internally as her hand fell to her side. The electro-magnetic signals her implant displayed on the inside of her eye-lids when-ever she blinked was ... interesting enough. So this was a LiME. Didn't look much different from a human, but then nothing could be taken at face value anymore, she of all people should know that ...

We have an artiste here it seems ...

" Yes, I think you can, actually. We'd like to continue to supply you with our refined carbon by-product. In return for this service we'd like a ... service respective percentage as it were, of the industrial diamonds produced, with which to cover our costs and so we can make a tidy profit for the material we provide you with. We'd also certainly like at some time to acquire a paragon of a respectable size, that is, compared to the more mundane dimensions found elsewhere, - which relates to your ... passion. We're rather certain of our product and we gather we can be rather certain of yours. That should just about sum it up, no ? "

Digeo read the response and sent his reply shortly afterward.

##Open Standard Diplomatic Link##
##To: Esther##
##From: The Endeavor##

While the propostion is certainly interesting and possibly benefitial, the current situation in Largent's holdings will not allow for any sort of agreements or diplomatics meetings at this time. Our hands are completely tied with the colonization.

However, we will look into it and hope that within a short time we will be able to arrange a meeting and discuss such and idea.

##Link Terminated##

Esther nodded slowly, "Ah. That would explain the giant shipment of carbon you brought me." She closed her eyes briefly, doing some mental calculations, "Let's see here... I'll process your carbon into industrial-grade diamonds for... shall we say... 5% of the resulting diamonds? Since my... side projects don't require payment to my host, the remaining 95% will be all yours. As for the paragon, well, yes, I can certainly do that. The carbon for a paragon will, of course, come from the carbon you supply. As for the cost of the gem, I'll have to calculate its value after completion -- it's not a simple process, you see. Any ruined attempts will be reduced to industrials and included in your normal returns." She tapped her chin, "For payment, I'll simply increase my fee by a couple percentage points, depending on shipment volume, quality of gem, duration of payment, etc. etc. etc. Acceptable?"

-----

The Largent reply didn't really require one of its own, save for a rather standard, "Call me whenever you're available". They were filed away as potential future partners and that was about it.

Hilda gave a curt nod to Esther. The figure of 95% was ... better than expected. As a result, and because of T.U.S. policy and socio-economical culture, it mandated a slightly reciprocal offer, even if perhaps Esther wasn't aware of the pleasure that the Commerce Directorate would obtain from this deal, and there-fore the Directorate, and thus of course the Director himself.

" That will all be fine, Esther ... But before we conclude this meeting, is there anything we can provide you with, by way of an item or service ? We, This United State, feel we would like to be on the best terms with the Caloris Basin, and we're plugged into solar trade to a good degree, having began as a trade port on Mars. Perhaps there is something we can offer you ? A product or technology that would benefit the Basin some-how ? "

Hilda supposed there had to be something in the solar system ( Or maybe even out of it ... ? ) they could provide, some-how, from some-where.

It was a routine sensor sweep- or so they say.

...In fact, it wasn't even that much. The Caloris ship didn't make any attempt to hide itself from any sensors whatsoever, and thus Aerospace Traffic Control over Aerospace Port Fifteen knew fully well that there was a Caloris ship on Neptune. Registered for an "Esther". No muss, no fuss, just a small patch sent to the ambassador-at-large to Neptune, informing him of the new arrival.

[Sent via D-Net]
[To: Esther, the Federated Mercurian Demesne of the Caloris Basin]
[From: Hirokazu Tomayama, Ambassador-at-Large to Neptune, the United Solaris Federation of Tiburon]
[Subject: Neptune]
[Classification: Declassified]

Esther,

Salutations! Fancy meeting you here so far from the sun. How goes life?

I was wondering, (if it's not too much trouble, of course) if you would like to join me for dinner here in Tiburon Neptune.

Sincerely,
Hirokazu Tomayama,
Ambassador-at-Large to Neptune,
The United Solaris Federation of Tiburon

Esther pondered a moment, running through the various needs and desires of the Basin. Personally, she just wanted to be left to her art, but she realised that she represented the Basin as a whole and not just herself. After a moment, she smiled a little, "Actually, now that you mention it...

"The Basin's reach is somewhat limited due to time constraints. One ofthe things we have been actively researching is FTL capabilities. If there was a way that TUS could assist us, well... that would be quite desirable."



[Replied via D-Net]
[To: Hirokazu Tomayama, Ambassador-at-Large to Neptune, the United Solaris Federation of Tiburon]
[From: Esther, the Federated Mercurian Demesne of the Caloris Basin]
[Subject: Neptune]
[Classification: Declassified]

Ambassador Tomayama,

Greetings to you as well.

Personally, I never understood the draw of Mercury, I always found it rather drab, but it is nice to make contact with the Basin's allies, even this far from the core and our nominal 'home'.

Dinner would be most acceptable. Once I wrap up a few business dealings here, I believe I'll be able to pay you a visit. All work and no play makes Esther a dull girl, I suppose.

-Esther
CEO of Esther's Diamond Mining Corporation

Hilda paused for a moment. She'd more than got the impression by now that Esther wanted to be shot of her, but any-way, business is still business and has to be done. As it was, this should be an easy request to fill, and with any luck may promote a shine towards T.U.S. on the part of the Basin.

" I would need to consult with the Directorate on this, but off the top of my head I can think of at least two kinds of devices we have in use at present which would resolve your problem. I will take your request to the Office of the Director as soon as I return to New London. I am sure the required product or even products can be released soon, along with technical data, to the Basin ? "

Esther smiled, her body shimmering slightly as she made a few mental calculations, "Hmm... sounds acceptable. The information and schematics can either be left with me or sent on to the Basin proper. The Basin has the construction facilities, but if your drives rely on more... exotic... materials, I'm probably better equipped to sythesize them." She paused and shrugged, "Might as well deliver them to me and I can forward them via secure protocols." She smiled thinly; while she would still prefer to be working, she had to admit that Hilda was far less irritating when she wasn't acting the fool. As such, she decided to be mildly polite, "Is there anything else I can help you with? I don't really have berthing facilities nor a cafeteria, but..."

Hilda gave a small smile.

" I'm afraid that I am not personally aware of the exact physical nature of the trip-drive unit. In any case, I'll be sure to point the Office of the Director here, regarding the data. We should also have no issue with sending an operational device to the Basin, too. "

She gave a moments pause.

" I suppose that I shouldn't keep you from your work any longer. So I must decline your kind offer, but thank you very much all the same. I'm happy to have done such excellent business for This United State with you, Esther. I'm sure Mr Kom will be most pleased with this transaction. "

She gave a small sigh, too.

" By now the crew may have become concerned for my safety, not that there is any reason, and such circumstances are my fault, I guess, but it is so nice to be done for a few minutes with that loathesome personality package I must run so as to keep my cover intact on this journey. If you will excuse me, Esther, but I'll have to take my leave, now. "

And so in the blink of an eye, or several, actually, Esther was treated to an observation of the personality package be re-engaged. So with a cheery wave by some-one who looked like a power-suited soccer mum on crack, Hilda boarded the vessel to begin her journey home.

Back on the ship, the two crew-members had since become busy with what may have been a game of poker, while they waited for the ship to finish the second diagnostic on the camera system and door-locks. The " sales suit " who had been so much un-needed baggage on this trip, went back to avoiding Hilda as much as decently possible.

In her mind within a mind, the real Hilda would be glad to retreat to her home, to her quiet office in New London, having done a good job, and get the kind of privacy there that would let her shove this bastard - bitch of a programme in her head back into non-volatile storage.

Esther nodded, "That sounds perfectly acceptable. A pleasure doing business with you, Hilda." She nodded understandingly as her offer was declined, "Feel free to consider it an open offer then." She couldn't help but feel a little sorry for Hilda, being forced to run such an irritating program couldn't be an enjoyable prospect. She also couldn't figure out why it was required, but assumed that there was a good reason for it. Or, at least, some kind of reason.

Before Hilda switched back, she added, "If you ever wish to take a vacation or something here, let me know. I'll try to have better accomidations handy at that point." She added a slight smile, "And I'l be sure that you have privacy so you can be yourself." Esther may have been a machine without a heart-muscle, but she certainly had one in the spiritual sense.

She watched, via sensor telemetry, the TUS ship depart and shook her head a little. Strange people. After a moment of reflection, she got back to work, prepping the factories for an increased output, and went back down to the surface to see about making a paragon for her new customers.

And maybe a small bust of Janus for Hilda.