[voice]

[ryuuzaki]

[Ryuuzaki's low voice is accented in a way that people from places other than the U.K. might think of as "generically English," and when the message begins, his tones are pleasant and measured without being effusive.]

Hello, everyone.

The Ingress has brought us to the Moira from any number of places. When I meet someone, I can't say whether our similarities will outweigh our differences, or vice-versa... when you're this far from home, even small commonalities can seem important. It's led me to be curious about the broad strokes of everyone's backgrounds.

[A pause, as he approaches his real question.]

What can you tell me about the government in the place you came from before this? Both the form of government and, if possible, specific names of leaders.

If it wasn't your original home, I'd be interested in hearing about that, too, even down to what year it was for you.

If you'd prefer to answer privately, that's all right with me. I can promise you my discretion.

Thank you.

Comments

[ryuuzaki]

That's very interesting.

[It is, and it's the first answer close to anything like the one he's actually been looking for, but that may not mean much in the scheme of things... it depends on the details. The comment about wormholes rather than jump drives suggests not, but still....]

Generation ships? Would that be something like a colony class ship?

[hellsbel]

You'd have to be more specific. [not surprised at Ryuuzaki's curiosity; would have questions too, under similar circumstances.] They used ramjet technology, sub-light travel -- about a forty-year trip one-way, which was about as one-way as you could imagine in those days. It took another few hundred years for jump technology to be developed -- it takes a particular sensitivity plus some very expensive neural microcircuitry to take a ship safely through a wormhole and back, and that's assuming there's something on the other end.

[ryuuzaki]

Your answer was specific enough for me to understand.

[Oddly specific, in fact. He wonders exactly how much his mind is broadcasting: it wouldn't be the first time, and here, a handshake might not end it.]

Colony-class in effect, but not necessarily by nomenclature. Jump technology sounds extremely interesting. Was it developed for that kind of ship?

[hellsbel]

[if there's any mental influence going on, Bel's not aware of it; telepathy, as far as they knew, had been merely the stuff of fiction back home.

half-smile; hadn't been hoping it'd go over his head, after all.] Most humans aboard are from the distant past, in my perspective. I've been explaining the first extraterrestrial human colonies since I got here -- for some reason people tend to be interested.

No, it was developed to make that kind of ship obsolete. It's a few days or weeks between planets now; ships are couriers instead of habitats. Takes some of the edge off immigration when you don't have to raise a family in transit.

[ryuuzaki]

I understand. I'm from the distant past, from that perspective, but the Ingress pulled me from another ship, which had pulled me from my original home. Still, I've never been aware of a number of the specifics of initial colonization projects... it's only that the logistics aren't difficult to extrapolate as a range of possibilities based on variable technology.

[After a beat, he continues.]

How many different governments would you typically encounter in that kind of transit?

[hellsbel]

Did it now. Another ship like this? [suddenly sharply interested; one malfunctioning abduction machine might be an unhappy accident, but two....]

Modern transit, you mean? Depends on where you are. And what type of government encounter you're looking for. Usually it'll be the planetary government or alliance controlling the wormhole -- customs duties at the checkpoint, and then again when you make planetfall or arrive at an independent station. If it's a multiplanet empire, there'll be local governments acting under the main one.

[switches to private in perpetuity]

[ryuuzaki]

[He tucks the information away for the moment and addresses the question about the Tranquility... to some extent.]

Not exactly like this. Huge, but almost completely empty; no Ingress, not apparently built with any intention of bringing anyone in at all. But it happened during deep space runs anyway: people who shouldn't have been on the ship were repeatedly found in stasis. The ship itself was automatically piloted.

Arguably it was in another universe, but that remains to be seen. I can say that I haven't exactly met anyone who was on that ship here yet.

[private it is then]

[hellsbel]

......Damn. Another interdimensional abduction ship? There go the odds that people who disappear from here are just being sent home.

[eyes Ryuuzaki speculatively] Cryo didn't work out for our Earth's generation ships, but I wouldn't be surprised if a failed attempt or two was swept under the table. Nothing they had back then would've explained what you're describing, though. It's the stuff of ghost-ship stories or bad cryo-tech bodysnatch vids. Was it a colony ship? [an otherwise empty ship, but set up to have people in stasis -- what else would it be?]

[ryuuzaki]

It was a colony ship, but stasis was a fluid suspension, not quite cryo.

"Ghost ship" wouldn't be an inaccurate description, however. My guess based on the location would have been a hostile life form, but I really never saw the kind of evidence you'd need to support that hypothesis. The ship itself could be pulling people out of here, but some people there had come from other, similar places. There seemed to be more than a few.

[hellsbel]

Strange. Fluid's not supposed to be as safe or stable. [wry] Or maybe that's what the cryo corps want us all to think.

[nods and sighs] Another mystery, I suppose. The multiverse seems to be full of them. But it doesn't sound like your ship was from my end of things, even our distant past, though I'd have to see the technology to be sure.