Meeting the DivergenceWe dock at the "friendly" station. This turns out to be a some intricate operation, and, with the tentacle-ish bits of the station, the whole thing looks uncomfortably like being swallowed by the station. We leave Bnarch behind to keep an eye on things, and exit the Embassy, accompanied by a K-C unit and 5 lizard representatives of the Ambassador. Kuna & Latte are dressed upmarket, Nickchub & Utan bodyguard casual, Shar and Tsaijix reasonably standard. We exit via one of the shuttle tunnels onto an organic bridge of some kind. Bridge has a fleshy vibe and is holding on with psuedopods of some kind. Vast space, holding the Embassy, with an atmosphere and a sense of down on the bridge. Air has a strange musty/mushroomy smell. Gravity isn't full strength - 0.8 g we estimate. Bridge is narrow, and a bit slippery, but we all make it across OK. From the bridge, Latte notices a bunch of other Hive Spiders on the walls of the docking bay. Points this out to K-C, who says it's noticed, and the spiders on the wall wave to Latte (more K-C?). We get met by a delagation of humans. Delagation includes a Voncathl, a couple of Veelixes - one older and rather androngous, rather than female, the other almost identical to ours, and a couple of unknown people, who look different. Voncathl greets us. Has had an update from Voncathl. Veelix meets herself, and then goes off to be alone with herself and catch up. Voncathl says we can walk around the public area of the station. The Ambassador, however, is free to go anywhere. K-C heads off to reaquaint itself with itself. We are led to a very large open space. Space is aiming for a forest feel - large, fleshy pillars with "branches" as trees, and so forth. Space has rolling hills, and a large number of houses (all quite sizable). Feel is "rural town" rather than country. Lots of people, although no big groups. We see a lot of duplicates. Voncathl says that most humans here are descended from the Storga. The Ambassador excuses itself and goes off to explore other parts of the station. We get led to a resturant / inn. Surrounded by plants. Building is very open - little protection from the elements and few doors, with no visible locks. Building is occupied by a number of large groups. Voncathl introduces us to Sueyan, a young woman. Asks her to entertain us. We are led to a large table. Various Sueyans bring us food and drink. Sueyan is fasinated by how we're all individuals. Voncathl leaves us in the care of Sueyan. Some discussion with Sueyan about Veelix and Voncathl. Sueyan used to work with Veelix on the revolution. Veelix changed after Veelix left. Sueyan wants Veelix to remember how she was. There are different opinions on how to maintain sync and how often to sync. More syncing decreases diversity of viewpoint and such. Voncathl is in favour of more syncing. This is also more in line with other Divergence species who aren't as indiviualised as the humans. Storga are descendents of the first human telepaths (who were also the first humans to join the Divergence). Storga have met and joined with these Ancestors, who re much further along the chain of the Divergence - much less human. The Ambassador is apparently from a very old part of the Divergence. It's faction was wiped out in an old struggle with the Convergence. Sueyan thinks that Veelix or some else here can help Nickchub. Utan asks who else is on the station. Sueyan is somewhat evasive and seems to feel constrained in her answer. Mentions that there are a number of other species, but that the Storga don't really interact with them. Some discussion about ships. Mainly automonous beings. Sueyan leads us out of the village, saying "I'm not supposed to take you out of the village, but Voncathl isn't here". Leads us to a building - museum of some sort. Filled with stuffed or wax figures. Many humanoid, often marked as Storga family members. Several other aliens, including one massive Hive Spider (Sueyan says "We don't grow them that large anymore - Too impractical"). She leads us though a door, bypassing the security pad to open it. Unusual, we've seen few door and fewer locks so far. Leads us into a fleshy corridor. Somewhat reminiscent of the Covergence mothership. She asks us to be quiet, and then leads us to a large room, rather like the docking bay. Filled with Sueyan at various ages. "This is my workshop". Leads us to a ship. "Been injured for a while. I think it may be amenable to some fun". Ship was, in it's own words, injured while "joyriding with another ship I may or may not be having a rivalry with." Ship and Shar have a discussion. The ship is "pilot-curious" and is intrigued by the whole notion of taking instructions. Provisions are made for a pilot, view screens are added and a control interface is worked out. Shar then takes Ship out for a spin. Discussion with Sueyan about local politics and her work. Sueyan is an engineer, not currently politically important. She is on several stations (common for Storga), and is aware of a number of projects, but isn't involved in any. Government by consensus. Voncathl's party is in ascendence. The alien members of the Divergence, who are usually more clone-based, favour Voncathl's viewpoint. Sueyan is building inorganic, electronic components for the organic ships. Tsaijix offers to help, and is ambushed by a bunch of Sueyans. Much discussion happens. Tsaijix discovers several gaps in his knowledge, especially about the materiels involved here, but still much useful information is exchanged. Latte asks about weapons. Various ship-mountable things are manufactured by Sueyan. We may acquire some extras to help arm the Embassy further. Shar establishes "a special, disturbing friendship" with Ship. Ship is very talkative, and happy to discuss other aliens it has carried and it's capabilities. Ship is actually a giant polyp inside the ship body. Polyps believe they were the first to develop telepathy. The ship is a constructed body that is regrown if badly damaged. Several important political figures are polyps, built into the station itself. Ship is very stealthy, very fast and bored. Likely to be easy to lure away. After about a hour, Sueyan says it's time to return. Shar reluctantly asks Ship to return. Head back to museum. Meet Voncathl, who tells us Velix has finished and asks us to join in a discussion. Get led to a conference room space. Room has Velix (same clothing as ours, but different hair) and the two men from the docks. Velix says reintegration went well. Voncathl mentions our dealings with Zenfiri. The Storga want us to retrieve an item for them from a place described as "difficult for us to reach". They hope that the Embassy will be harder for the Empire to deal with. Item is on a hidden world, Isbathalatti. It is very close to the other founder worlds. It was the home of the "Fourth Founders", who helped defeat the Yun-radi, but were not welcomed into the Empire. The "fourth founders" were the first human telepaths / Divergence. The item in question is quite large. It would fit in the Hausdorff, but nothing smaller. Voncathl very reluctant to discuss any details about the function of the item. The system is throughly cordoned off and isolated. Voncathl calls it "the best kept secret in the Empire". It is likely to be closely monitored, and the Empire has had thousands of years to setup the defenses. The Proconsuls are likely to be on the Patrician homeworld (The Empress is probably dying soon). Voncathl hopes we can get the details of the defenses from Zenfiri as payment / promises for aid from the Divergence. There is time pressure from Imperial politics - now is a good time to use Zenfiri, since she will want the help. There is no great time pressure from the Divergence for the item. As payment for the mission, we ask for various bits of useful equipment. Nikchub asks that someone looks at his brain. Utan asks Veelix to accompany us as a source of advice and so forth. She agrees. After the meeting, much preparation works happens - various bits of nifty equipment installed and so forth. There is a distinct shortage of really big guns, though, and lots of ggaps in the station inventory which looks like there were recently really big guns available, which suggests the Divergence is gearing up for a significant effort. A new, larger fuel tank is installed on the Embassy to improve range and options for using the big gun. Tsaijix asks about joining the Divergence. This is not possible without the "nessecary abilities", and, to date, the Divergence has not had a good success rate grafting abilities onto people not born with them. Nikchub's brain is scanned. Results are that Amabassador's initial efforts seem rather haphazard, but improved by the Convergence. The Divergence can't undo the changes though, but think it's close enough that their gene-therapy treatments for clones with poorly developed or damaged faculties might apply. Gene therpay will "repair damaged structures", and the Dviergence doctor isn't sure on what the effect will be. May turn Nikchub into a possible Divergence entity (although he/she/it considers this unlikely), but should at least stop headaches. Nikchub given a course of oral pills to take along the journey, and Ziva is given a brief training course on possible side-effects and consequences. Nikchub is undecided on the pills. Tsaijix is really keen on seeing what happens, since thsis may shed light on ways he can join the Divergence. We ask the Divergence to analyze the indestructible statues. They can learn nothing interesting - the materiel science is somewhat beyond them. We leave them one of our statues (from the wood for stone trade) to study. We catch up on the Imperial news. Currently it's "The Empress is ungoing routine treatments at unspecified facility X", with a note about "increased border skimirishes along the border with the Tribe" (so obviously the plan to sideline Javosequor is ongoing). A day after the meeting, Shar notices she's been followed (rather ineptly) by a young man. Youn man walks oddly, with a "new to the human body" vibe. Shar ducks around a corner and surprises him. After some discussion, we establish that this is Ship, and it's trying new things. Shar takes Ship to get drunk. Once throughly drunk, Shar prods for more information. Our mission is a big political deal, and Ship wants in. "This is the start. This is where the founders take back what is theirs. This is it. I don't know how, but this is it. Big ships are being recalled to station 1. I don't even know where station 1 is. but it's a big deal. This is the start of something big". Shar takes Ship around town to annoy people. By a complicated sequence of conversation about identifiers and names, we christen the ship avatar "Hex" (for "hexidecimal string of sufficient length") Mikchub upgraded the Embassy's electronics and survellience equipment with a lot of Divergence technology, so that is now much improved. Lots of medium-sized guns are installed on the Embassy and some on the Albatross. Rail gun system is completed. A couple of small guns, tweaked to look alien and flashy when revealed, are installed in DMH-3. (Made to look more alien by adding bits from the Embassy). Latte talks to Sueyan about AI research. He gets directed to a representative of a family that dabbles in AI research, called Irg (male). Irg lives in an abandoned warehouse, filled with a rather hodge-podge assembled computer, with lots of tech sort-of organically bolted on. Greeted by an artifical "Greeting Vistors, Welcome to the house of Irg". Computer gos down a very "Eliza chat-bot" conversation tree. Conversation does demonstate some intelligence and recall though, but it' not a convincing AI. Irg is summoned - very mad sciencist appearance. Irg does AI "as a hobby". Latte invites Irg to meet our AI. Irg brings along a "teachng kit", which consists of several large cases. Latte queries Irg on his AI. Irg says it's more advanced than it let's on. Some discussion about information availability and possible trades, but nothing conclusive. Irg is introduced to Nikchub, and the Oracle. Irg, rather dubiously, switches on AI teaching kit and places it in the Faraday cage. Nothing happens for a while, then the screen nearby switches on and shows a rendering of Nikchub's face. The Oracle says hello (using Nikchub's voice and a very, very ceepy facial expression). The Oracle explains it's using Nikchub's face and voice as tribute to his "attentiveness". Some discussion with the oracle. It doesn't know "where in it's chain of history it was made by meat. Also: "first time I'm meeting meat." After some discussion, Nikchub names it Quinzel. Quinzel wants data, so we arrange a secure link between it and Irg's AI Quinzel was part of a ship, tasked with optimising production of something. He was salvaged from the ship and sold to the Embassy's servitors. Nikchub hooks up Quinzel to the Embassy's sensor systems, and also given access to old data to see if it can turn up anything interesting. Quinzel also makes friends with Irg's AI, although it is a rather unimpressed with the state of Divergence AI. Latte talks to a K-C representative. K-C is a bit concerned about the current situation. Something big is going down, K-C is worried by the scale of the attack. It was aware of about 20-odd stations before hibernating, now number has at least doubled. K-C doesn't trust Voncathl - describes Voncathl as a "disciple of the Fourth Founders". K-C hasn't dealt with the Founders itself. The Founders are more structured - more like other Divergences - a smaller number of larger group minds which sync more often. Latte learns a bit more about the Divergence / Convergence split. Divergence initially Convergence entities that engineered themselves to no longer sync with the Convergence "Tuned themselves to different frequencies". Basically encouraging diversity. K-C is concerned that the Divergence is making a move without being sufficiently prepared, and is also somewhat concerned that the Divergence is ready and is worried about the consequences of "winning". Also concerned that the Convergence as been quiet - worried that this is an indication that the Convergence is about to do something surprising. K-C unit decides to go for a long nap. Asks to be woken after we're outside sync range of the station. We talk about the situation with the Ambassador. The Ambassador thinks the plan is to have the have the fourth founders take over the Empire, with Voncathl having a prominent position. Shar queries Hex about stations and numbers. Figures Hex quotes match up with K-C's numbers. Hex has noticed that the Fourth Founders are dominating local politics. Unsure how this is in parts of the Divergence outside the Empire. Discussion about fighting Empire and possibly running the Empire only a local thing in the last few decades. Utan guess is that it will require a few planets worth of ships to take the Empire. With the troubles with the Tribe, quite a good time to launch the attack, especially as a lot of the important people are centralised because of the Empress dying. The number of ships required is impressive, but based on rough guesses from K-C and Hex's information, it probably doable for the Divergence, although highly likely to be all or almost all their resources. Voncathl brings a large crate of "very sensitive" equipment useful for finding the device "that should not be disturbed". Latte arranges to leave a message with Irg's AI for people like K-C. Message to K-C left on the station explains some the conversation with our K-C. Message to Sueyan and Veelix, detailing concerns about Convergence and Tribe activies and risks we say. Ask them to discuss it with Voncathl if they feel it's appropriate / required. We leave the station, taking a Voncathl, a Veelix (we think not our original Veelix), and Hex (as both ship and human). Quinzel's Faraday cage is removed, and Quinzel is asked to investigate the interesting equipment. Based on some discussion, impression is that the Fouth Founders are more worried / hot under the collar about the Empire than the Convergence. This is probably a bad thing for all concerned. Tsaijix gets a awkward feeling from the Veelix accompanying us, but isn't sure if he isn't just being paranoid. Discusses this with the Ambassador. The Ambassador also notices Veelix is different. Not unexpected after a sync, but result seems a bit unexpected. Observation that Veelix appears a lot more friendly with Voncathl than before the sync. Much discussion about involving other rebel movements. Latte wants the new government to be a broad alliance of other parties. Voncathl isn't actively opposed to this, but objects on principles of time, and is vague about details of how government will work with the Fourth Founders in charge. Nothing conclusive is established, although, via Velix, Gephka will contact and supply several rebel groups to help handle the transition of power. After some discussion, we do decide to tell Zeneferi that the device is relevant to an internal power struggle - nessecary price for assisting her route to power. Latte is taken to see the contents of the box. The rest of us gather around Quinzel to see if we can learn anything via its sensors. Unable to see the contents. Latte peers in, and appears a bit confused. Latte descibes the contents as "interesting". Voncathl is insistant that "No-one in the Empire can now about the contents of this box". Utan spends some time preparing a suitable selection of possible products for visiting the centre of power. Mushroom drink and a number of popular herbal remedies grown in the reconditioned hydroponics chamber. Nikchub eventually decides to take his pills. Monitoring by Ziva after starting the course reveals some changes to brain wave activity, but nothing clearly significant. After a few hours, Nikchub momentarily syncs with the Embassy - has a moment or two of "being a giant tree-ship" at breakfast. The Ambassador is a bit put out by this: "That felt like screaming". The Ambassador tells Nikchub that he must now finish the treatment, so he can hopefully learn to control this. Nikchib goes to talk to Quinzel. Fails to get good advice on mediation, but does learn several interesting snippets. Quinzel has finished analyzing the visual footage from Latte's examination of the box. Unable to identify contents of the box, but it's made of the same materiel that shields the box, and is most likely mechanical in nature, rather than biological. Quinzel has also been picking up a number of low-power hyperspace signals. Some are from the bracelets, but the majority seem to be tied to telepathic people, which now includes Nikchub. Nikchub also experiences another unexpected sync with the Embassy, and isn't happy about it. Utan has a discussion with Voncathl about the hypnotape. Likely that it will be useful for Nikchub. It's not certain that Voncathl knows about Nikchub's condition, but it's probable. |