Specor's Hub is the primary administrative level of the city, and as such people can be seen moving about at all hours, during which the lights are kept on. Administrative offices are built into the arcology structure itself, in some cases being 'buildings' that spawn several stories in height.
The height of the hubs is approximately 500 feet, in an attempt to make the city feel less cramped.
Chirc is in her office. The most notable features of the office is a rather large desk, and she is seated opposed to a series of muted news stations playing on screens and captioned across from her.
Leucohyle meanders up to the door, the two largest arachnoid robots taking up position beside her, and cautiously knocks on the doorframe. The doorframe gets a brief squint, and has apparently passed muster, as the little clone does not immediately rummage up a cloth to clean her knuckles off with.
Kethren comes strolling up behind Leu, a penguin waddling along beside him with a calico ser on its head. Butch is elsewhere for once. Probably ran out of yarn.
"Come in." Chirc says, speaking loud enough so that she may be heard.
"Good good evening," Leu pipes as she enters. "Thank you for setting aside some time for me, this-evening, Minister-Chirc, and ah hello Mister-Kethren, I'm er, I'm glad you could make it. Rather at a loss for all of the sociology we've come across lately. -Anyways- we met with Mister-Christopher, and well I shared my technological survey results with him, hoping you were copied on those but I still have all of the data if you need it, and..." She pauses, pursing her lips, and peers at the room layout for just a moment before finding what is hopefully an appropriate chair.
Kethren nods as he follows Leu in, also pausing for a moment to find a suitable chair with room in front for a penguin. "Evening. Did my findings on the finances illuminate anything for you?"
"Good evening." Chirc says with a smile. "Please, sit down." she says, motioning to a couple chairs in front of the desk. "Should I have something brought in for you? I was about to have tea." she offers, though she continues after a moment. "The documentation from yesterday is quite interesting. The names mentioned in the findings are quite powerful. It was well known on Nodina that a significant number of high ranking figures answered to them, not to mention the amount of assets they had accumulated over time."
Leucohyle perks up. "I would very much like some tea," she pipes, lifting her feet so that Iota can scuttle underneath and serve as a mechanized hassock. "Oh... yes, the er, the financials. Yes, there definitely seemed to be some outside impetus there, beyond, alas, our archivist's 'pay grade'. Along those same lines of query it may also be possible that, in addition to seed -funds-, seed -technology- may have been provided, as we've found some significant gaps in technological evolution as compared to a large sampling of other humanoid societies."
Kethren takes a seat and reaches out so that Floriana can scurry back up to his shoulder. "Tea would be nice, yes. But what does it all mean?"
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Chirc presses a button near her desk, "I will have a pair of extra guests today, please bring some tea in." then she looks at the other two in her office. "Wealth is the great indicator of status on Nodina. For most of the families, their rise is announced by some new innovation or technology that is often far superior to anything else available at the time. After that, it is a matter of being able to stablize one's source of wealth before everyone else is able to understand the new innovation or reverse engineer it. The greatest families have several centuries, at least, of experience like this."
Leucohyle cants her head to the side, looking between Chirc and Kethren. Several lines of text scroll across the lens-screens of her holospectacles. "...er. Now, this may be a conclusion poorly leapt to, but... theoretically, if the technology -was- being seeded into your society... the chances of it being diverted to the same places the er, more direct wealth came from... is is anyone else seeing this?"
Kethren reaches up to scratch Floriana idly "Sounds like you're suggesting that the game is, or at the least was, pretty firmly rigged. To what end, though?"
"Economic integration of the Nodina economy into the larger Svajone Coalition system was surprisingly easy. Every case study I have had access to prior to this indicate that such integration is extremely costly and can devastate both parties if not done with care. Usually such an exercise involves two economic structures that are significantly different in capabilities and technology available. Of course, there is the concept of the soft landing-" and then there's another knock on the door to the office, "Come in." Chirc says again. A human male with the tea enters, walking towards the desk and placing the tea and accessories on the mostly empty desk.
Leucohyle gives the person with the tea a wobbly smile and a tentative 'Hello' before fiddling her fingers together. "R-right, I mean I'm not -guaranteeing- that there was... rigging, as you say Mister Kethren, but initial observations do indicate outside tampering. Er-apologies-Minister-Chirc-do continue. Soft landing?"
Kethren nods to the tea person "Evening" before looking back to the others "Yes, I must confess I'm unfamiliar with that concept as well." Wark?
The man goes to pour Chirc's tea, seeming to be familiar with this process for her, then he looks at Leucohyle and Kethren, "May I pour you a cup as well?"
"The soft landing was always a theoretical concept, to the best knowledge I have available. The idea is if you had two separate states you wished to combine into one economically, to combine them immediately would be disasterous. The amount of assets that it would take to stablize the inferior economic region would be substantial, not to mention having to restrict travel between states to prevent disruptions. Terran history uses a place called Europe as an example of this happening a couple times over a decade." Chirc explains, then she smiles, "The soft landing is the idea that if you were able to segregate the inferior economy, build it to a level of near parity with the other party, then combine, the process would be far smoother.
Leucohyle's little eyebrows work for a time, and she looks between the man and the tea for a few moments. She considers the variables, and says, tentatively, "Yes?" After a moment more of deliberation she says, "No dairy, honey if you have it, unbleached sugar if you don't? One er, lump, or-its-equivalent." Her focus snaps back to Chirc as though on a zipline. "Then this would in fact support the theory that the economy had been purposefully manipulated."
Kethren nods thoughtfully at the tea person "Please. Cream, and two sugars. Or whatever the local equivelant is." Then looks back to the others "Sounds like a pain, honestly. But if you've sufficient funds, certainly doable."
The man begins to pour Leucohyle's tea, adding the honey as requested. Then Kethren's is poured with the cream and sugar added.
"The why is not particularly difficult, if you think about it." Chirc says next. "The creation of a fully functioning human government the size of the states that existed prior to the arrival of humanity would be significant. Certainly previously you had states with several thousand citizens. To become a state with billions of citizens and sufficient territory, suddenly several options are open. Humanity in the Ancient Expanse would have an identity that is completely separated with the early images of the refugees, as they were initially called."
Leucohyle's attention remains upon Chirc; a walnut-sized little arachnobot, seated just in the lee of her elbow, turns its lensed underbelly towards the man pouring the tea. When the pouring is finished, it utters an electronic chirp. "Thankyousir," the little clone says, reflexively. "...so, we have this... structure. We have the technology, the population, the demographics, the economy, all put together to be able to integrate fully and it seems without difficulty with the population on the other 'side,' as it were, of of the temporal dilation. Is it the timing, then? Perhaps the -why- lies in the -when-. Whatever was critical at the time of the integration of your society into this time and place.?"
Kethren nods at the tea stwards "Thanky." He drums his fingers a bit on the penguin. "Timing sounds like a good place to start. What was going on there and here at that juncture? Man... the time dilation would make the logistics of that operation a nightmare. There has to be something big."
"On Nodina, we knew of the Svajone for centuries before the dilation ended. Of course, when it did end, things were largely as you see them now. Large families with a great deal of wealth, human enhancement technologies available to those who could afford them. There were the founding of the Svajone emigration schools shortly before that time." Chric offers. "They are preparation schools of sorts for those who wished to live offworld. You could receive basic training in alien culture and language before leaving. The reality is most of them either emigrate to one of the newly settled Svajone Coalition planets or here to Fortrain. You may find alien civilizations normal to deal with now, but it is a new cultural experience for us."
"Don't find it terribly normal out there myself," Leucohyle murmurs, tones of disapproval evident in her little fluting voice. "Er anyways. Anyways. It does indeed stand to sensible logic that you'd want to settle 'at home,' as-it-were, and not just go pelting willy-nilly off through the multiverse. It's -certainly- cultural, out there. Certainly so. But what we need to look at is... were you re-integrated at a specific point in time simply because your society had reached the 'ready' point, or or was your society being prepared on a developmental schedule to -be ready- at a specific time?"
Kethren takes a sip of his tea and nods approvingly "I'm guessing the latter option. The end of that dilation was probably predicted with a high degree of accuracy. I'd imagine it's easier to adjust the logistics to have things synched up like that. But yes, it's quite nice getting to meet all the other alien cultures. Always wanted to travel back on Earth... can see /so/ much more out here."
"With the proper tools, one could likely calculate the degredation and the end of the dilation. Early archivists attempted to do just that." Chirc says, taking her tea and holding it as well. "So it is likely we were prepared for this point. Functionally, from what reports from Nodina have told me, little has changed other than the schools and access to the outside universe, as it were. I must admit, when I first left, I was told of aliens made of psionic energy that would call themselves gods. When I met them, I realized how weak they were. Things beyond Nodina seem so... fragile."
Leucohyle wraps both of her pale, circuit-traced hands around the teacup and takes an appreciative little sniff. Aaah. Oh wait, we're still talking. "Er. Yes, yes I think that might be a safe assumption, then, that you were rather on a a development schedule timed for the end of the dilation period. But... There was no... at least no effective threat of extinction for humanity on -this- side, when the Nodina integrated." Her little fingers drum, rat-a-tat-tat-tat, at mention of psionics. "...oh, yes, we've got any number of psionics who think themselves gods, be they insubstantial, solid, or otherwise. The Kamiroids and their ken, the the Riftwalkers, power this and power that and whoops we've put holes in the universe, mind the gap." Pip.
Kethren nods "Well, I won't say the riftwalkers are my favorite... few have been okay, but many are... flaky, to be polite."
"No threat other than the rather low population numbers. The extinction threat was not imminent. The threat would have existed a few decades from now, however." the Minister says, taking a break to sip her tea. "I asked Miss Amhearst why we were psi negative instead of positive when I had the chance to speak with her. To the best of my understanding, it would have been just as easy to make us that way as this way. She said it had to do with ideology. Tell me, are there psionist worship cults here? Supposedly they have existed in some places, but I never found any in my travels here."
Leucohyle thinks about it. "W-well from what I recall, and I've not done -any- research, but the Nall were a bit zealous with regards to er, no sort of psionic-dampening or blocking technology because they used psionics as er, interrogators, etcetera. What else. Well you've got the Kamir worshippers, I I believe mostly the Opodians and some of the Tupai on Kamm Shohob, then the Kamiroids, some of which are a bit -thick- on the psi-superiority I mean really one of the one of the things I've noticed overall, is that there is a rather -egregious- disregard on the part of the psionics as to what is and what is not an appropriate usage of one's talents. Over-reliance, such as levitating something a-across a table that could easily be passed, as well as a lack of boundary comprehension... beings who are perfectly capable of of communicating verbally insist on speaking instead directly into a person's mind, or even worse, prying into pasts or futures uninvited, without so much as a 'how do you do,' just because they -can-. And and the superiority complexes that come along with? Believe me, the decision's done you a favor on both ends. Spares you the intrusions and doesn't make you -silly-." Sniff.
Kethren cringes a bit "Yeah, I've run across a few psionics who were... impolite. Haven't seen any proper cults, though."
"There are stories on our planet of similar things." Chirc admits. "Well, I do not know if they had an actual being with psionic capability or not, but there were cults venerating some being or other." then she laughs slightly. "Usually the story would go that due to the time dilation they would be able to endure for a century or so, acquire quite a few followers, and then the Svajone representatives would arrive. Usually eradicating the cult while asking that their god come and help them. Actually, at least once there was someone who came out but proved hopeless impotent. The last one of those was probably centuries ago. They are almost more folk tales than history." then she shakes her head. "It is not that I mind that we are how we are, it is trying to understand the why."
Leucohyle utters a few reserved 'pip's of amusement, followed by a tidy little burst of, well it really sounds like a brief, prim, musical little cackle. "Oh that's -priceless-," she squeaks. "Proof denieth faith and all that -nonsense-, my word." It doesn't take long for her to get ahold of herself. "No, religion is what fills in when there is no room for -reason-, and and it sounds like the Svajone wanted, well. Reason. Obviously. I mean that makes sense they wouldn't want to set you up to fail. And and well... I mean I think part of the -why-... maybe. Regardless of a lack of of a -present- faith-based threat you know we had some invaders from what was it, the Dominion, they were very zealot-ish, and well who knows what these "True Children" are are on about that Comorro had the unfortunate encounter with, the Nall of the previous conflicts... it -is- the er, nebulous 'cause' that drives some species to war. Illogically, most of the er, time, too."
Kethren takes a sip of tea before rubbing the bridge of his nose "I could definitely do without the overzealous causes that drive such matters. Hek burial probes, Dominion shenanigans, 'true children'... maybe we'll get lucky and a televangelist will rift in and annoy these groups to death."
The Minister laughs a little bit after Leucohyle speaks. "I would say that you make it sound like we are to be some bulwark against such things, but we were made to value wealth, not force."
Leucohyle holds up a finger. "Sometimes not valuing something is a perfect defense against something that -does-. The conflicts that don't arise out of zealotry? If you review your news archives it's escalation of posturing. Oh my word and do -not-, what's the phrase, -get me started- on the Hekayti burial probe whatever nonsense. Honestly I -really- thought they were going to attempt to declare eminent domain on everywhere that blasted thing landed. And and really all it would have taken was one 'target' that just did not give the proverbial damn, and then where would they be? I mean, what's your protocol for dealing with outside threats, whilst we are on the subject?"
Kethren smirks "The trouble is, the Hek armada is large enough that they effectively /can/ claim eminent domain on whatever they want. Just isn't worthwhile for em to do it without a perceived provocation first. Like your planet being in the way of a burial probe. You'd pretty much need to unite all the other governments in hiverspace to present a credible threat to em. So, for now I can just hope that they'll realize my people had nothing to do with their people dying from coffee and renew that contract... Anyway. Leu's got the right of it. Hard to escalate posturing when the other side doesn't play along."
"If you think along traditional tactical lines, there are many forces that would be difficult to defeat without significant loss." Chirc explains, "While I can not go into detail as to the exact nature of Svajone defense capabilities, I can assure you that we have significant self defense capabilities as well as access to suitable asymmetric tactical options." a pause, "Normally? We have defended ourselves from outside threats with sufficient deterrent and our neutrality." then she looks at Kethren a moment. "The Dominion actually tried to ask us to ally with them. They had little concept of foreign relations, since it seems they were the only state where they came from."
"Oh no no no that's fine I don't need to have any specifics, just that you've, you know, means. Because yes that sort -does-, er, sniff around for allies and then it's all 'well if you're not with us you're against us,' and I mean honestly there should be allowances to have people like that tased until they settle down." Leucohyle takes a very prim sip of her tea. "I find the Hekayti -insufferable-. Small samplings of the er, population excepted, of course, but really I I don't even like selling products to them. They're terribly -shouty-. Anyways I mean it's nice to er, nice to see that the Svajone has the means and clear intent to protect the investment. I've a small planet myself and I'm primarily reliant upon my Planetary Defense Limbics and and the assistance of the er, Danu Chroi and Mister-Galactix and other people who've... sense."
Kethren nods "Yeah, those guys tried to hit us up for an alliance, too. The council conveniantly never got around to discussing the issue, and then things were over. Curiuosly, they left one of their ships at our space port. Oops." A sip of tea. "Yes, Aina is a rather nice change from most of them. But then, she's casteless."
"Actually, I was reading a rather interesting paper produced from SCRI recently. It was on the topic of the logic of resource driven conflicts." Chirc begins. "The short version is that they make little sense for most resources, given that discovering planets with resources that are able to be acquired, or acquired with a minimal investment, are plentiful. Then again, there is value in having a claim outside of what they call civilized space. There has been little exploration out here asides from those working with us."
Leucohyle finishes her tea with a careful little slurp. "Won't go into the representative -I- had from the Dominion. Suffice it to say they really, really, absol-u-tely have got no concept of foreign relations at all," she sniffs, and then looks in the direction of her PDA about three milliseconds before it bleeps. "Well. I'm afraid I I do need to er, return to the Temperantia for my nightly synchronisation. Sadly I'd hoped to be able to return home upon Comorro's return but it seems that this is tragically not the case." She wriggles her nose. "Er well anyways thank you so very much for your time, Minister Chirc, I think we've put some things together and perhaps when assembled as part of the proverbial big picture we can get a bit closer to the answer, hmm?"
Kethren drains the rest of his tea, and sighs a little at the mention of Comorro. "I should probably get going, as well. Have a few things that need to be checked on before the day is over."
"I understand." Chirc says. "I am glad I was able to be of assistance. I will see if there is anything I can do for future investigations."