NationStates Jolt Archive

As the man in black was escorted away by the officer, he turned to face him. "John, is it? Who exactly is this 'Tyrone' that you're supposed to be taking me to?"

earlier: "John, bring this man to Tyrone's office. I'm sure he can take care of you"

Tyrone Manske was one of the more accessible members of the Imperial Council. This mean that perhaps 2 dozen people on Mars could schedual an appointment with him under ordinary circumstances. The Voice was, of course, one of these. Tyrone had no idea why She wanted to add another meeting with some rediculous spacer guild to his already hectic agenda, but he suspected it had something to do with the fact that he had personally assured her 2 days previously that there was no possible way anything could go wrong with the Canal opening.
Famous last words, he reflected wryly as he pulled up the file on Pheonicia. The representative from the guild would be here shortly, it would perhaps be best to review what he knew about Spacers.

The file was thin, but had all the essentials- everyone who knew anything about Spacers knew basically the same list of basic information.

[code:1:cb321f75d4]
The Allied States of Spacer Guilds:
A federation of inter-dependant, but self-governing, states known as Guilds. Their land holdings are negligible, as the dominant sub-species, [i]Homo sapiens astra[/i], is unable to stand against significant g-force. They are deeply involved with the Venus/Mars terraforming efforts, though they usually stay in the background. They are without any form of FTL travel, and are therefore confined to a few large installations in Sol System, but their other spacefaring technologies are apparently highly developed.

Guild Phoenicia:
Best known for constructing and maintaining the Martian Solette, and managing the ice rings that supply water, carbon, and nitrogen to Mars and Venus.
Major installation: Colony fleet in the leading Martian Trojan asteroid field.
Internal Standing: Largest contributor to the Tripolis Capital City-Station. Largest contributor to the Glassmith project. 2nd in command of the Samael military installation.
Leadership: Unknown.
Foreign Policy: Generally isolationist. They interact with other nations primarily on matters of terraforming.
[/code:1:cb321f75d4]

As the Spacer entered the room, Tyrone found himself looking upon a tall, thin figure, dressed entirely in black. He wore what looked incredibly similar to a deep-sea diving mask, with the mouthpeice connected via thin tubing to a small tank at his side.

"So I am told your guild wishes to obtain the array in order to help melt the northern ocean. That plan might be worth it just for the next oxygen gain and the jump start to the water cycle."

"Your government has already communicated to us several possible methods of payment for the array, but what do you personally think would the the most valuable thing you have to offer?"

"It is actually for neither of those reasons that we want the mirror. Ice is reflective, liquid water much less so. If we can melt the ice, heat absorbtion would go up, we could begin to remove the solette, and the weather would stabilize."

"Personally, I think the most valuable things we have to offer are not too valuable. The correct question would be 'what is the most valuable thing that you are willing to offer?' The answer to that is much easier to find. Minerals. Minerals, and energy."

"Possibly along with use of your orbital facilities for Mangalan commerce?"

ooc: I'm a bit confused about a less important thing, I/tyrone said:

"your guild wishes to obtain the array in order to help melt the northern ocean."

you then said:

"It is actually for neither of those reasons that we want the mirror. Ice is reflective, liquid water much less so. If we can melt the ice, heat absorbtion would go up..."

Aren't we saying the same thing? You want the array to melt ice.

"Possibly along with use of your orbital facilities for Mangalan commerce?"

"Aye, that can be arranged. It would do us good to have more extensive interaction with other nations."

ooc: I'm a bit confused about a less important thing, I/tyrone said:

"your guild wishes to obtain the array in order to help melt the northern ocean."

you then said:

"It is actually for neither of those reasons that we want the mirror. Ice is reflective, liquid water much less so. If we can melt the ice, heat absorbtion would go up..."

Aren't we saying the same thing? You want the array to melt ice.

'Twas referring not to melting the ice, but the reasons for doing so. The reason was to increase heat absorbtion, not "for the next oxygen gain and the jump start to the water cycle."

(*bump*)

Tyrone considered for a moment.

"There was some talk on Mars of using the array for other projects before selling it off. It appears, however, that attempting to destroy anything that moves in high orbit and flinging rocks at each other on the surface is all they are interested in. We can start arranging the transfer now, while there is still a mirror array to transfer."


ooc:
The agreement as I see it:
Spacers get:
1 grade A solar focusing array

Mangala gets:
Free usage of Spacer orbital facilities for legitimate commercial purposes.
Some minerals (the hard to find on Mars ones would be nice)

We both get: good relations and a nice deal.

Tyrone considered for a moment.

"There was some talk on Mars of using the array for other projects before selling it off. It appears, however, that attempting to destroy anything that moves in high orbit and flinging rocks at each other on the surface is all they are interested in. We can start arranging the transfer now, while there is still a mirror array to transfer."

ooc:
The agreement as I see it:
Spacers get:
1 grade A solar focusing array

Mangala gets:
Free usage of Spacer orbital facilities for legitimate commercial purposes.
Some minerals (the hard to find on Mars ones would be nice)

We both get: good relations and a nice deal.

"Good. Then you agree to accept payment in raw minerals? And, I believe, use of our orbital facilities as well. We must, then, agree on a suitable price in minerals. My initial offer is the equivalent of 2000 ounces platinum. Is it acceptable to transfer control of the mirror upon recieving a down payment?"

"I will have to consult with some of my collegues before accepting your offer, but it seems to be fair and correct to me. I would suggest waiting a bit to accept control of the mirror as we will not be responsible if it is damaged in the transfer process and there is an orbital battle going on..."

Tyrone rose and offered a hand to the Spacer.

The Spacer carefully offered a gloved hand in return.

"Then this particular meeting is over, yes? To use a cliche, you'll have your people call my people?"

"Yes, our meeting is finished. I hope, however, that it will not be the last."

"Good day, then." The Spacer turned and left. Two days later, the first $50,000 in platinum arrived via armored vehicle.

Once Martian orbital space calmed down and was cleaned up, small thruster rockets manuvered the solar mirror array towards a Spacer orbital station. The last Mangalan personnel left the array, and computer's memories were wiped of non-essential data.

She's yours, take care of her for me.

"Thanks for the help. It'll be remembered."
-Telegram to Tyrone's Office

A single CARM eased up beside it and docked with array. The computers were re-imaged to double-boot VMS and Berkeley UNIX, with a built-in FORTH interpreter.

After a little fiddling, thrusters began firing again, nudging the mirror into a 40-hour polar orbit.