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.
The Keant's landing bay is one that is relatively unoccupied. It is, however, quite large, The landing bay is actually separated into multiple parts. The first is the airlock like area where ships wait while the area is pressurized to prevent harm to the rest of the landing bay. After that is the landing dock, with a variety of 'hangar' like areas for ships and vessels to be kept. Other support services for craft are prominent here, from repairs and fuel to contacts for those delivering or receiving shipments. Beyond the landing bay is a series of lifts and elevators of varying sizes to take people to other areas of the station.
Near one of the lifts into the station is an older human male who appears to be approaching seventy. He has white hair and a beard that is short, but covers most of his face.
Leucohyle spends an amount of time observing the landing bay, waiting patiently for who-or-what ever the escort consists of, be it someone from the delivering shuttle or someone from the station. When appropriate, she and whichever arachno-bots she is allowed will pad (and/or scuttle) into the bay proper. Innumerable polycarbonate lenses from an assortment of featureless robot faces track and follow everything the little clone focuses on, seemingly reacted to her highly alert emotional state.
The architect slash councilor is also waiting patiently. It's one of those things he's good at. But he does take the time to look at how the place was built. In broad terms, anyway.
The old man walks towards Kethren and Leucohyle as they leave the shuttle. "Welcome to the Keant." he says by way of greeting. "The first superstructure built by humanity in the Ancient Expanse. Though I imagine detailing the building process of this station is not why you arrived, given that no one consults me on superstructure architecture."
Leucohyle tears her eyes away from her intent observation of the structure, blinking owlishly at the man as her vision comes back into focus. "Er well if you are inclined to discuss some things at a er, later-date I would be altogether interested; I've plans for a manner of Science Centre in the works and this is this is -very- well-organised." After a moment, she wriggles her nose, rabbitlike. "Er apologies, allowed myself to be distracted by the technology. Leucohyle Amalia Hall, genetic offspring of Alastair Rhys Callum Hall. We are here under the representation of Minister Alizee Chirc regarding research of Project Longinus."
Kethren nods as he reaches up to scratch the ever present calico ser on his shoulder "And I'm Kethren, of the Danu Chroi council, holder of several jobs that have no bearing here. My little friend is Floriana... and I must say, this structure... It looks quite old. Well cared for, but... Old."
The man looks at the ser on Kethren's shoulder and sighs a little bit, "At least it's not a cat." he mumbles. "Yes, I am aware of why you are here. Follow me." and with that he begins to walk towards one of the lifts. "Though I want you to tell Alizee to stop whatever it is she thinks she is doing. She has made her point that she is not happy I failed to return her calls. I am answering them now."
Leucohyle pads along obediently behind the older man, although her brow furrows in puzzlement. "Ah, so you are er, Mister Anton Cial, then?" It seems as though she is determined to proceed with the required social niceties. "It is an honor to meet you, sir... but, er. I'm afraid I don't know precisely which of her plans you would like me to to request the cease and desist? Or would you preference I maintain the letter of the message as-directed and allow her to draw her her own conclusions as to your particular order." No, it does not appear that there is a whit of sarcasm in her delivery; her expression remains wide-eyed and earnest.
Kethren nods as he starts following along.
"It seems you already know my name, that helps." Anton replies, "Alizee is plotting something. No one suddenly buys a spaceport like that while asking questions like the ones she wants answered." the man answers. "Is that why she sent you two? Smart enough to give her answers and not ask too many questions on why she is doing what she is doing?" with that he hits a button opening a lift and steps in. "I would prefer to have this conversation somewhere where I may sit. I hope you understand."
"Er well yes sir I should think it would be awkward to er, send someone to a meeting without knowing with -whom- they were meeting..." Leucohyle pipes, continuing to furrow with puzzlement. Several blinks later, she adds, "Oh er of of course, please wherever you are most comfortable." A few more blinks. "Well, specifically, Mister-Cial, answers is is really all I'm, after. I've I've been presented with a puzzle, an unanswered question, and am now taking the time to disassemble, analyze, collect, sort, etcetera, all of the associated data to retrieve the answer. As for the er, -why-... well, honestly? If if my origin were as fraught with unanswered questions as the Minister's, I too would be inspired to seek answers. It is not logical to, to live in ignorance. Sir." Another long pause, as she tilts her head to the side, mouthing 'buys a spaceport?' as a flurry of news articles flickers across the lenses of her holospectacles in microprint. "...ohhh," she muses.
Kethren chuckles "By all means. And really, Leu covered much of why I'm here. There's a puzzle to figure out. We're still missing pieces."
"The reason such a question is so difficult to answer is because the answer is not in Nodina history. Well, most of it is not." Anton explains as he hits the button on the lift. "Tell me, what do you two know of the intersection of human history and external manipulation?"
"I am nine hundred eighteen days, three hours, fifty nine minutes, and eight nine ten seconds old," Leucohyle pipes in reply, "My er, human history, as-it-were, is not a great deal. But the Minister has er, provided background education in the means of 'soft landings' as they refer to socioeconomic integrations, and I do have a present running hypothesis involving the external manipulation of the Nodina society's technological evolutionary timeline." She fiddles her fingers together.
Kethren chuckles "History was never my best subject. And now that I live in a universe populated by denizens from the farthest reaches of several universes worth of parallel space time? It's even worse. But yes, I've got a reasonable aquaintance with humanity's history within this universe, and as Leu said, some of the more interesting concepts at play here have been explained."
"Wrong history, but you are not wrong." Anton replies, then he sighs as the lift opens and he steps out. This section of the station seems to be dedicated to administrative offices of sorts. Anton begins walking down one of these hallways. "Humans have been interfered with by outsiders for a very long time. Even on their original homeworld. Those who claimed the power of gods sought to control humanity. Manipulating great people, the faster than light drives for a while. As time went on, the offenses became greater. They were quite powerful, there is no way an ordinary human would have a chance against such beings."
Leucohyle blinks several more times in what seems to be the space between seconds, less a flutter and more an unconscious 'hard drive' indicator. "I... see," she says, wriggling her nose as she sinks deeper into thought. "So there is an an observable escalation throughout humanity's base timeline with regards to the -nature- of the, of the interference?"
Kethren raises an eyebrow, as does the ser on his shoulder "I'll admit, the history of faster than light travel really does start well after when I got rifted from, so it's something of a gap in my learning."
"We have explicit points of interference. You must remember, where we came from, these beings that claimed godhood were quite real." Anton explains, before opening a door to a small office. "Please, sit." he offers towards a couple small chairs as he goes behind his desk. "Eventually there was a group of humans, a few hundred or so. They became a resistance. They were adopted by a human who had died in the resistance to the psionic threat, and became what we now call the first children, compared to the second of the Nodina." he stops for a moment, "I know it is not seen often here, but similar to these beings that claim godhood, there were also those who had died but still had the capacity to interact with the living world. It takes a great deal of effort and stamina, but it was more than possible."
There is some more blinking, as Leucohyle processes the information. "...are are you referencing the beings commonly referred to as the Kamir, sir?" She crinkles her nose. Obviously the subject of psionic superbeings is of some distaste.
Kethren sighs "I've had... really no contact with them, but nothing I've heard has exactly been good."
"There were more than just them, but yes, Kamir were who were the primary problem in my time. Be glad you had no such contact, even the later generations were dangerously powerful." Anton says. "Then I can tell you why Loginus was used as the name for this operation. Well, the first answer is that 'Svajone' was already taken." he laughs at this.
"Yes, and even their diluted offspring managed to be -quite- problematic," Leucohyle pipes, following it up with a disdainful sniff. She seems openly puzzled at the jest, blinking repeatedly. "...really?" she asks, in a tone of bewildered wonderment. "W-well, that's a lot of epistemological research for naught..."
Kethren chuckles "The sad part of life is the deep mysteries are rarely as enticing as the puzzle pieces make them to out to be."
"It is not quite that simple." Anton smiles at this. "Perhaps I should explain it a little better. The name Svajone is normally explained to foreigners as 'traveller.' However, it is named after a woman who, assisted, destroyed one of these godlike beings. That means it can also be rendered as 'slayer of the divine.' The puzzle is difficult for you because it requires a specific worldview that few humans, not even the Nodina, have to fully appreciate it."
Oh, that's a lot of blinking. Leucohyle is apparently processing a great deal of information, judging from the blankness of her expression and the sheer influx of images and words whizzing and flickering across her holospecs. "...slayer of the divine, and and the name of the spear that allegedly struck the killing blow on a son of a god. Oh... my."
Kethren nods "That does rather clear up the implications, alright." Keth and Leu are seated at a desk in Anton's office.
"We are not entirely convinced that the conflict is over. Look at the riftwalkwers, for instance." Anton continues. "But answer me one question, now that you have something approximating the beginnings of an answer. They were created for a conflict that may never emerge again, and they can always be informed should it come up. Do they need to know right now, when they have peace? You must consider the consequences of disseminating that information."
"In my conversations with the Minister, the er, the subject had already come up along those lines. I I do not think that they would find it surprising that they are bolstered against psionic threat..." Leucohyle offers, fiddling her fingers together. "It would merely be the confirmation of of an existing hypothesis, as opposed to the er, to the introduction of a new one? And er, not providing the Minister with the answer now does not by any means guarantee that she will not arrive by it on her own ends. Also you'd er, expressed discontent with her current means of seeking said answer... so... well er I'm not going to tell you what conclusions -you- should draw, but if she er, had the answer then it stands to to logic that she'd stop seeking it, and therefore er... you know. Stop pestering you, as-it-were."
Kethren settles back in his chair a bit, drumming his fingers together "If you're asking whether or not we should tell an entire civilization they were bred to destroy gods? ...I'd be inclined not to. I've seen people get delusions of grandeur from /far/ less. Wasn't that long ago that a certain individual came to my planet under the delusion that our planet was evil, out to destroy us all, and only HE could save us. And the most resources I ever saw him muster was a warehouse full of sticks." Floriana's eye twitches a bit, but is calmed as Keth reaches up to scratch her.
"You understand the situation, then." Anton says. "We do not obscure the knowledge out of malice, but rather that there is a bit of debate over what the right thing to do is. Most of them will accept the human population crisis explanation, perhaps with a small amount of understanding their creator's dislike for psionic activity."
Leucohyle tentatively adds, "...and well yes I may have also offered data that includes the er, human mind as, for some reason historically being a Kamiroid-slash-psionic 'target' of of choice. Because we're 'fascinating' or or some rot, I don't know, I've a limited sampling of Kamiroid interaction and s-so far I've met -two- who've been respectful and and really the second was still immeasurably puzzled as to why I wasn't comfortable with having someone root around in my -brain-." Sniff. "So yes, I can see where you're coming from but I can also see where the Minister's research is taking her and it is likely to the truth."
Kethren shrugs "I don't hate psionics on principle. Met several nice ones in my travels. But I won't deny that the random brain rifling is something they tend to be a bit quick towards. The nice ones that I've met wouldn't do that without asking, of course."
"I suppose it is more likely, especially after they chose to embrace human enhancement technologies, especially the intellectual assistance technologies. It is a difference between us and them. We generally avoided human enhancement, while the Nodina chose to embrace it." Anton adds. "It depends on your faith in the Minister's reaction. At the very least I doubt it could influence Svajone policy away from its desire to avoid conflicts, even against psionist threats in the past."
Leucohyle clears her throat, delicately. "Sir, unless you er, specifically forbid me to give her the answer to her to her question, I am going to give it. It is what I have been tasked to discover, and here we are. Although er I do have to ask, just to, you know, fill in the blanks, do the gaps in the technological timeline and the calculated financial infusions also connect with this purpose?" Blink blink.
Kethren nods "Indeed, I am rather curious about those. Fascinating jumps in computer engineering, really."
"Such operations were required to ensure preparedness for a hostile environment upon emergence." Anton explains. "We knew approximately how much time we had, and used it to the best of our ability. Most of the modifications are their own improvements, it should be noted."
Leucohyle actually claps her hands a little bit, "Excellent! I I will update my notes. Thank you so very much for your time and hospitality, sir." Pause. "And er I was rather serious about discussing your architecture. I I rather like it."
Kethren nods with a chuckle "It /is/ a rather nice place. Partial to the fountain in Eriacre of course, but that's me being biased."
"Do take care in your course of action. It has the potential to be quite significant in its consequences." then another smile out of Anton. "I will see what I can do about the architecture. There are stories to be told here, but they are probably far less exciting unless you specialize in such things."
"Eriacre is is very nice, Mister-Kethren" Leu pipes, "But it's it's a bit -arboreal- for my tastes." She blinks a lot at Anton. "W-well actually Mister-Kethren DOES specialise in such things. He's actually an architect. And I'm fascinated with any sort of technology, old, new, as long as it works and isn't weighted down by frippery, it's aesthetically pleasing to me, so... well there you have it. If you don't mind of course."
Kethren chuckles "I don't mind frippery, as long as it's tasteful. But yes, architecture was my stock in trade before rifting. Still do it when I can, but the demands of statecraft tend to limit my leisure opportunities."
"Another day, perhaps." Anton replies.