Aberrant: Children of Quantum Fire - Interlude - Investment & Commitments

[Dan Hawkins]

"I'll be damned."

A ghost from the past was walking with Star, one Dan hadn't expected at all. "Murat, it's really you isn't it? Come to take in the view eh?"

It was a different Dan than Star had seen. The two former Elites obviously knew each other, and not adversely it seemed.

"It's been too long."

That the man didn't have clearance to be in the yard was something to be addressed, still, Star had obviously brought him in, and she was the boss here. "Are you looking to sign on with GNS?"

He'd knwon about the plan to hire some warpers where possible, he'd already made a call to one Elite, and a Member of the League. The Elite, Longjump, Had agreed to the contract, something he'd planned to have Star sign later today. The Leaguer, Alexander McKenna, had practically jumped at the chance, though his own personal fee was intriguing. He'd work for lower rates than most, and he was extremely capable, he just wanted to be allowed and aided to go out where noone had gone before.

[Murat]

Murat paused and an almost smile graced his lips for a second before he faded back his normal empty expression. He knew the past never really let you go, but had not expected it to catch up to him quite so fast. Well I decided to stop running hopefully he remembers more than the last few years, he thinks as he closes the distance and clasps hands with Dan.

"Yes Dan it is really me. I have crawled back out from under my rock. I came in today to interview for a position with GNS. I spent the morning interviewing, and the last bit being briefed and educated by the Admiral here. I had no idea you were working here." He turns to look at Star, "I would not have expected a drill instructor to be part of your team."

Barely waiting for her to answer he looks back to Dan. "How has life treated you the last few years?"

[Doctor Varroxxian]

Star nodded toward Dan with a smile "Best security man in the system, and a good friend by way of auspicious fortune. Who better to keep this brand of chaos in some sort of shape?" she said, grinning a bit more as she added "Has to keep the Enlisted in line too. Maybe I did sense the Drill Instructor early on."

"I am going to go and check for the film crew, or at least see if they filmed yet. I suspect that there has been some sort of schedule slip." Star added, leaving Murat in the capable hands of Dan ... "Mr. Hawkins, Murat, back in ten. Longer if they have those ion coil stacks installed - been wanting to take a look."

Then she was gone down the other corridor, handling herself like an expert spacer as she leveraged the hand holds and foot loops along the way.

[Dan Hawkins]

"There have been hairy times, some worse than others. Still life moves on, even for men such as we."

Once Star had left the two Elites, Dan turned to him. "This is a public company, Murat. It is not easy to maintain the veil of total secrecy here. You should know that coming in." He nodded. "We could certainly use you, but I have to ask, "Are you really ready for something like ths?" We've got some leeway here and there, but if there's ever a step out of line, we could be hip-deep in a hurry."

He shook his head. "That would potentially entail combat, something we both don't want to see. If it happens, can you handle it again?" Power wasn't an issue. Whether or not Dan could trust him to protect those around him, that could be. If all he wanted was to work as transport, Dan could and would respect that, but adding another powerful fighter like Murat would be a huge asset in the deterrance department.

[Murat]

“I realize I am going to be more visible here. I am aware I will need to maintain an acceptable persona outside of work as a member of the company instead of just avoiding the world. People will need to feel they can trust GNS, which means all of us. I made peace with that before applying. If you’re worried about my behavior you should remember I know how to follow orders” Murat looks down and sighs before looking straight at Dan and continuing.

“I did not come here looking for fights. I grew tired of putting my life on the line for strangers. That said Dan I am not afraid or unwilling to fight if needed. I never lost the nerve for it, merely the desire. I plan on living now Dan, not dying. If that means I need to defend myself or friends then I am willing, but I won’t go looking for fights needlessly anymore.”

[Dan Hawkins]

"Good, that is what I wanted to hear you say." He'd been sizing him up discreetly, and nodded. "I plan on living myself, I've been fortunate to be given a number of very good reasons to do so."

"I won't ask you to start fights, that's not my style of command. Defense of GNS personnel and assets is Priority one, and I just wanted to be up front that you may be required to dredge up things we both think are best left in the past."

"how have you been since we last saw each other? There are a number of people who believe you're dead you know."

[Murat]

“I am not surprised people would think me dead. My leave was very sudden and out of character, as most would see it, for me. Since taking my leave I have been in seclusion. I was about as close to melting down as I believe you can get without tipping over the edge.”

“You remember Overload back in ’15? For the last few years I was following in his footsteps heading towards self-destruction. I got lucky and stopped caring before I could truly implode like him though. I took the job in Venezuela fighting along the border. After hitting the insurgent’s outpost I felt drained and empty. You told me my anger was going to eat me up inside and you were right.”

“I have spent the last year looking back on my life. I had to face a few ugly truths I am still not comfortable with. I tried some of the meditation stuff you talked about. I can’t say it helped me as much as you thought it would, but it did help. I fell better and more stable than I have since Marie was still with me. Now I am looking to get back out with people, I don’t think hiding is going to help me anymore. It is an amazing thing running in to you here, there aren’t many people left alive I can really talk with anymore.”

[Dan Hawkins]

he nodded. "I remember."

"I can teach you more, furthe techniques that might help if you feel the need for them, but that's something that can wait for later. Hiding can only do so much for so long, and then it does more to hinder you than anything else."

He nodded. "There are some, Mary's still around, if you remember her."

"Saetting that aside, I welcome you to GNS, as I can't imagine Star not hiring you on for this."

[Murat]

Murat bows his head, “Thank you for the welcome Dan. I believe a recommendation from the security officer will mean much to the Admiral. I will work to honor your faith in me. Not many would be so quick to welcome me back; I know I did not leave on the best terms with everyone. Would you mind showing me the rest of the ship? We can finish catching up along the way. Afterward I will speak with the Admiral and finish my orientation with her.”

[Dan Hawkins]

Dan nodded. "If no one forgives the past, old grudges taint the future. Here at GNS, We discover and forge the Future with our own hands, Murat. Perhaps it will provide a new outlook for you."

He set out to give him a tour of the rest of the theater until Star returned.

[Doctor Varroxxian]

Star returned in a few more minutes, and there rest of the orientation was in the bag. Murat got straight to training, which involved gate transits on day one. Things would work out with Murat, Star could sense it ...

.....

Location: Exalt! Japan HQ

Meanwhile in Tokyo, Star was looking forward to a day of work. Working in her secure office - on the security level, in Exalt! Japan HQ. It was a nice place, and it made a secure base of operations for Puck's Japanese branch but Star would rather be out in Tokyo today. She hadn't been shopping with Kamiko in weeks ... and much as Star loved to make progress on projects some of this bureaucratic business was pretty boring.

... Maybe a quick stop on the second floor for some of that great ice cream. Amazing the vending machines they had here ... home made style ice cream made fresh in a machine ... The future is now, in Japan!

[SalmonMax]

Exalt! Japan Campus

Alexandra's entrance to the neat, well-kept foyer of Exalt's facility in Japan was eerily similar to how she had approached Puck in the first place. This was partly by design...she was using the same appearance chosen for that meeting, reasoning that if anyone WAS paying attention, that face was already associated with Exalt. It was also partly just convergent evolution. Her goals now were similar to her goals then, in general terms. She wanted to meet with an Exalt officer to discuss things of mutual importance.

She stepped up to the receptionist, a nondescript American woman in a business suit.

"I'm here to see Starseed," she said politely, "I don't have an appointment, but just tell her 'Genesis' is here to see her. Thank you."

[Doctor Varroxxian]

In short order, one of the Starseeds - the one on shift at the facility today - came to greet Genesis. Visually, it wasn't who she expected ... but that was neither here nor there.

Star had been looking forward to Alex's visit, and after greetings and settling into the 'safe' office, turning the security fields on max and so forth, Star said "Hi. I am guessing you are Alex. However, just humor me in case ... I have a skill testing question just for you."

She handed Alex a piece of paper with a challenging equation on it. It would take a supercomputer with bio-morphic algorithms several million years to solve. Star had pumped her own mental energies to full for hours to write the thing. It would be impossible for anyone except a Nova at Alex's or perhaps Metaphases's level to answer quickly.

Alex considered the equation and replied "Six pi over four point two." Which was the correct response, and because Alex hadn't taken more than a second to do it ... it was probably Alex.

"Right on! ... Nice to see you. You've worn this face to Exalt! before. Forgive me, I am being a bit paranoid of late. Just out of necessity. Would you like some tea?".

[SalmonMax]

Alex shook her head. She figured if Starseed was cautious enough for a test, but careless enough to use her real name, it must mean that Starseed's precautions in this place were sufficient to warrant it. At least she hoped so.

"No thanks, never been much of a tea drinker. Listen, I want to get a couple of things out of the way up front. In retrospect, at our prior meeting, I think I came off as a bit of a bitch. I want to apologize for that...it wasn't intentional. I had a lot on my mind, and wasn't really thinking of it as a social visit and...well anyway, I'd like to clear the air a bit. For example, I'm sure you're a little curious about why I'd take the trouble to show up in person rather than just email you, or call you on the phone and arrange an appointment. In this case it's because I wanted the personal touch...and because it doesn't take much more effort to appear in person than to contact you in other ways. I do have here though, an address we can discuss things online over." She presented Starseed with a little business card. "It's secure, so no need to be circumspect on it unless you want to be. Radio communications are trickier, since I spend a lot of time underwater. Once I relocate, that becomes more doable."

"Anyway, I wanted to talk to you about several things really, but most importantly about what kind of presence you have in the inner and outer solar system...and about what kind of barriers or problems you're having that I might be able to help with."

[Doctor Varroxxian]

Star hands Alex a memory stick. "For you, the whole record set until yesterday - save for a very select set of documents we don't go digital with. Sorry, nothing to read it in here. I don't keep computers or anything with more than simple circuitry in this room or the scanning hallway. I gambled you would be able to read it directly?"

"Oh, and no worries about the other day. I have been a bit grouchy. Though I am not showing in this form ... the original me is pregnant. Most of the changes don't weave through to these forms, but some of them are below the threshold of what is easy to separate out."

GNS Summary

Working on it ... everything is covered in various scatted posts, but I will be making a nice summary.

More important than the actual GNS operations themselves is the idea it has planted in the Terran culture. Much of it has been effective sphinx strategy to get businesses in Japan, and now the Congo interested. The Japanese people were easy to motivate, the government had most of the necessary policies in place. Novas have already been doing space ops for decades, but usually for high prices and in a way that was either secretive or designed to keep the clients paying big bucks. GNS developed and distributes a model of how easy space ops can be with 2020's tech provided the mass limitations of traditional launch were ignored. Star's efforts have been calcuated to use economic and social forces to get people into getting into space - and show them how to do it.

So in these months, there are competing services popping up like crazy... companies are designing big, reliable, of-the-shelf space hardware. In system cargo isn't even dependent on warps or novas. From mercury, mars, luna, or planetoids linear launchers and catch nets can be used (NASA tech from way back) due to the low G, thin or no atmospheres and easy escape velocities. Un-manned ion drive freighters and such fill out the rest - 2027 tech is quite capable. Everything about the GNS strategy is facilitating and using the least amount of Nova power to achieve the greatest amount of economic activity. Convoys of space trucks, rail launching setups, etc. are being built all over to cram the most stuff through the least warps. Cargo containers that go up are engineered to be space habs, and left in space to build 'real estate' there.

Though GNS is making money, scads of it ... Star doesn't take compensation. The vast majority of GNS profit is invested into R&D operations or seed grants to smaller organizations that have good ideas but need the help to get them going. Regular X-Prize style competitions are run through the Reid Foundation .. the first of which are just bearing fruit.

Also, the big Apollo style documentary about the GNS launch - the first PUBLIC trip to another star system - is stirring the exploratory instinct, the dream of colonizing the solar system. That, and seeing that inaction will result in Japan and the Congo economically dominating the solar system, is spurring firms and governments around the world to get into space.

"The big thing about GNS is that we are changing the culture. We've become a group obsessed with Novas. Nova this, nova that ... everything else is forgotten. I asked myself ...'Why isn't there a city on the moon? Where are the towns on mars?" ... the only answer that holds up is that our culture is navel gazing right now. With the exception of a few people like us, of course. Now though, the Nova economy is maturning here on earth. It was a big boom, but the cycle is coming back down. Old socio-economic stresses are coming back, to compound new ones that stem from us Novas. Take Japan ... its still running Saisho economics. The policies are still working well, but competition is fierce. Saisho is notably less effective now than it was in 2017, and dramatically less effective than in 2007, and so on."

"Plus, the technology is here. 2027 is the year of space ... colonizing the solar system. The infrasturcture can even run without Novas. NASA had the basic research done sixty years ago."

"There are plenty of variables, but I have friends working on self-renewing biological life support systems. Once those are deployed ... maybe even later this year ... there is nothing to stop it. Soldiers become pioneers, and the energy - the motivations - of this culture shift from conflict to exploration."

"It isn't a solution in and of itself, but it might buy the planet a few decades on its own. Plus, if the planet is devastated there should still be an early space faring culture carrying on across the system. Still have to worry about stopping wars though. Saving lives, those missions haven't changed. Global conflict is much less likely, but isolated conflicts are still probable."

[SalmonMax]

Alexandra takes the flashdrive and presses the end of it into the back of her hand, which dimples, then forms a small port to recieve it. She listens to Starseed and scans the contents of the drive simultneously, then unplugs it, having memorized the files.

"I agree with the general premise of getting people less dependent on a single world's resources," she says, choosing her words carefully. "In that area, your goals are aligned with mine. The information I'm looking for though is a bit more on the technical side. Let me turn the question around though and we'll come at it from another angle."

"I'd like to set up several autonomous manufacturing centers in the asteroid belt, and near Jupiter. Possibly on one or more of its moons as well. The factories would be essentially be large robots, using drones to collect minerals and fuel fom surrounding space, astroids, moons, and Jovian atmosphere. These resources would be stockpiled then, for several large projects that are currently being developed."

"What I want to know is how you might be able to help me do that. In return, I'd be more than happy to help you with any current technical difficulties or challenges you're having. Or even just things like upgrades. For example, I see your spacecraft are hybrids of relatively simple technology combined with your 'shells' of manipulated energy fields. I could use my abilities to alter the physical properties of the materials in these 'habs.' Increase their durability and resistance to radiation, say...so you wouldn't need as much shielding to get safe results. Or change their wiring to be superconductive at room temperatures. I realize that's nova powers, but it would only have to be done once for it to be permanant on that ship. And that's just the beginning. I have things on the drawing board that could be of use to you. Energy production, propulsion, it's not the tried and true route your general design philosophy embraces, but you might consider a small specialized fleet using more advanced designs as testbeds for future development, or just to give yourself an edge."

She smiled. "So...what do you think? Can we work together on this?"