"Yes - I think we should get supplies before we talk to the Ambassador. There's a good chance we're going to expedite our departure afterwards." John looked at his display "I need armour. Big, heavy, hard armour. My chassis is tougher than most of you, but I was still too close to destruction too many times."
Robert nodded his head, happy with the idea of his mobile defensive batteries making themselves better at absorbing damage. "Assuming the Ambassador is willing to meet us, having already presumably gotten what he wanted from us," Robert grunted even as he was browsing the station's selection of cyberware in his virtual vision. "I bet 10 credits we won't get past the lobby, if they even let us though the front door.
The two purchases are fine.
The tier 2 computer is part of your gear so it does not diminish your remaining credits (still 871 c).
Action 1:
Kamiya took one of the corners almost on two wheels. "So armor and weapons are priority. We'll start with that."
Action 2:
Kamiya smiled politely at the Ambassador, "I assume that your package arrived safely? Considering that wasn't the first thing you asked about, it must be somewhere safe which you know about."
The lashunta desperately wanted to detect the thoughts of the Ambassador but figured he most likely had extensive training in resisting such tactics. So she settled for the direct approach and watched his reactions carefully. "Why did you leave us stranded out at the Drift Rock? And why were we attacked by an Eoxian ship when we did manage to find a way off the Drift Rock?"
Action 2
Sighing, Robert moved casually to stand next to John and slipped a 10c chip into the android’s hand. Fair was fair after all.
Item acquisition post, later date…
”Here’s the beaut, mate,” the dreadlock-haired cyber physician announced cheerfully as he emerged from behind a curtain that covered a doorway leading deeper into his den/workshop/clinic. ”One bio-neural processor, cultivated from your very own DNA from your last visit, Mr. Returning Customer,” the eccentric said happily, juggling a credit chip-sized item from hand to hand as if it was too hot to touch. ”You sure you wanna stick to the basic package? Just a few little tweaks, and you can’t believe how high you can go! You can twist yon brain on every vector, all at once! Now, I do prefer me the homeopathic approach,” the man said, breathing deep from the obviously self-rolled cigarette that stuck to his lower lip as if it could defy the pull of gravity, sighing in evident pleasure as he breathed out a cloud of aromatic smoke that brought tears to Robert’s eyes, ”but never judge, I say. Not ‘till you try it out yourself. Said from personal experience, ‘f course. But if you wanna fly with the angel babies or taste yellow…”
”Next time, perhaps,” Robert said, waving his hand to try to steer the smoke away from his face. ”Just please don’t drop the thing, right?”
”This? No worries, mate. 100% solid-state. Could whack it with a mallet and it wouldn’t mind,” the doctor laughed, bringing the small chip up to his eyes so he could peer at it as if it contained the mysteries of the very universe.
”I’ll take your word for it,” Robert sighed. Dealing with this man wearied him to no end, but he did come with neutronium-hard references and his previous work had been exemplary. ”Could we maybe go ahead with this? I have places to be today.”
”You the boss-man,” the doctor said, shrugging his shoulders and pocketing the chip. ”Let’s pop that cranium of yours, then. Good thing you are smooth as a baby’s bottom up here – saves time, not needing to shave, right?”
”Right…” Robert muttered, wondering if it was too late to ask for proper sedation to save his sanity.
***
”… and that’s that,” the doctor said as he applied a medpatch over the incision behind Robert’s left ear. ”Dermal regen will be done in a couple hours.” Taking another pull from his cigarette, he took a loo at the quantum resonance scanner imagery and nodded happily. ”The chip is interfacin’ nicely… power flow looks steady… right. Try to initialize, yeah?”
”Umm…” Robert murmured as his closed his eyes and focused his attention to his virtual vision. Indeed, a new interface had finished building itself and his firewalls were calling his attention to the connection request. A security certificate, derived from his own genetic code was being offered to authenticate the connection. As hard to fake as anything in the realm of cryptography today. The technomancer hesitated for a moment that stretched into subjective eternity in the accelerated virtual environment. There were risks, but then again, to get what he wanted he had no choice but to trust the cyber physician, and if the man had wanted him dead, he had had a perfect opportunity when Robert was strapped to the chair during the operation. Easier by far to stick a blade into his eye than tease the chip deep into his brain without leaving him a drooling idiot. And since he was still sane enough to be paranoid about it...
’Accept the connection,’ he thought.
’Processing… external unit identified. Type FA-03 cognitive processor derivative. Integration in progress...’
Robert gasped aloud as he could feel the tiny neural core coming online. There were no words to explain the feeling of his consciousness expanding, as his neural implants began outsourcing some of his brain’s processing requirements to the biochip.
”You tastin’ that yellow yet, mate?”
”Not quite… but I could never imagine it better,” Robert said, nodding in satisfaction.
Carefully John went through their agreement with a fine toothed comb. "In the event of needing to take this to arbitration, our confidentiality agreement is likely to be held void." he pointed out.
Total: 747
So how much do I have to spend? Up to a total of 4000? I'll definitely shop for armour, I'll update on that soon.
Not quite. I'm actually 'following' the book so far but I will adjust as necessary.
For now you have 2,351 credits to spend, which would leave you behind the WBL level but that is likely to change so I'm not too worried.
I need everyone's purchases so I can make the appropriate changes...
Questions?
Game on!
"There was another ship that tried to intercept us on the way to the Acreon, as I'm sure you know," Zadie told the ambassador. "An android named Clara said she had been hired to stop us from completing our mission. Any idea who she was working for?"
No worries, we can retcon the shopping part (or you can shop in Castrovel).
Questions?
Game on!
Action 1:
Kamiya didn't let the doubt she was feeling cloud her features. "You say you don't know why we were attacked by an Eoxian ship but surely you have some idea. Ships don't lie in wait to randomly attack. Would it matter if we hadn't destroyed it?" The lashunta thought he had been a little quick to ask if the ship had been completely annihilated.
Action 2:
Kamiya nodded, "I would definitely want to review the footage. I wouldn't say there was issue exactly with the notoriety but it has complicated a few things."
Action 1:
John kept his opinion to himself; that being the ambassador was not telling the strict truth.
Action 2
Kamiya nodded, "I would definitely want to review the footage. I wouldn't say there was issue exactly with the notoriety but it has complicated a few things."
”You can bet your rotting soul there’s a problem with notoriety,” Robert growled. His public profile’s filters were working overtime to keep his inbox clear of unwanted attention. Their status as reality entertainment heroes of the day had had people digging in for background information, and it hadn’t taken long for someone to dig up Robert’s earlier statements about the overinflated status of the supposed divine entities people worshipped. Only a small minority of the public cared enough for a second look, but those who did were both loud and persistent. So he was under constant bombardment from one faction that celebrated him as a revolutionary free thinker and radical philosopher and another that saw him as blasphemous demon taken flesh. Robert hated and despised both groups with equal fervour.
Long day, but I'm going to take my Starfinder CRB to bed and figure out Zadie's purchases by morning.
John sniffed "The ship design seems to prioritise unnecessary luxuries. I do like the fact it has a VR suite though. I suggest we run through more combat simulations before we need to fight again for real."
"Alice." John asked "I believe that was the ship. Can you please interface and exchange credentials."
Golemforged plate 2, level 3, 1610cr. 750 left. Still shopping
Can I keep the brown force field that I was using against the bbeg? Or is it part of the suit?
Force Field takes 2 Slots. Decent Armor at this tier only has 0-1.
You could get Troop armor (+1/+3) or keep the Estex (+0/+1) if you want to install it.
If not, any chance I could convince you to upgrade to officer's plate (+6/+8) so Orianna and John match? I could float you some credits. It has less of a speed penalty, +1 AC, but costs 2275 instead of 1610
Action 2:
Kamiya was both looking forward to seeing her parents again and dreading it. She sought out Oriana since she had a son. "How would you react if you found out your son had been doing something you didn't agree with or thought was dangerous? I'm worried about what my parents are going to say when I see them again. Especially my mother."
Action 3:
“Morinoko dear, is that you? Where have you been? And I told a thousand times to make sure my batteries are full. You’re going to kill your poor mother, you know?”
Kamiya's stomach clenched when the ship asked after Morinoko. "I'm sorry ma'am but too much time has passed. Morinoko has since passed away and has bequeathed her ship...you...to us. My name is Kamiya. And this is Oriana, John, Robert, and Zadie."
Action 2
John sniffed "The ship design seems to prioritise unnecessary luxuries. I do like the fact it has a VR suite though. I suggest we run through more combat simulations before we need to fight again for real."
”As long as the galley is stocked with decent coffee – and, as it happens, it now is – I’ll be fine,” Robert said, taking a sip of the midnight-black brew. It would be nice to get some workshop room instead of all that cargo space, just in case something needed doing away from a station or shipyard, but expansion bays didn’t come cheap.
"We should utilise this cargo space. If we're going to be going to Castrovel, perhaps we can do a cargo run at the same time. We might as well get paid for our time." John suggested. "If nothing else we could buy something cheap here, and sell something it for more there ourselves. Kamiya; is there anything that fits that criteria?"
"I would like very much to see where you all come from," she said as they gathered for their pre-flight meal. "Perhaps we can all load a simulation of our home into the VR suite, and show each other around. I would love to show you some of Idara, and of course, Kasath. It is home, though I have never been there."
Oriana smiled. "They didn't know about Tort-Ace? Well, that's a complicated question. Right now, if I saw Raseen, I wouldn't care what he'd been up to, I'd just be so relieved that he was okay. Generally, parents are worried sick about their kids, but people don't like feeling worried, or scared, so it comes out as anger. If your folks get mad, the best thing you can do is just remind yourself that it's only because they love you so much. Don't argue, or justify yourself. Just let them get it out, then tell them that you love them, and that you're being as safe as you can. There's no need to fight about it, but no need to give up something you love, either."
Kamiya held up her comm unit with the number of messages which had now climbed to 53. "No, no they did not. That's why I became Tort-Ace...so that I could do what I enjoyed without having them worry or be angry. I'm willing to let them say their piece but considering my mother gives lectures for a living, I suspect that it will be long and very thorough." She gave a weak smile, "You're not going to need me for the first three days, right?"
"If nothing else we could buy something cheap here, and sell something it for more there ourselves. Kamiya; is there anything that fits that criteria?"
Kamiya considered what could be purchased on the Station that was hard to get on Castrovel but was drawing a blank. "I can do some quick research but Qabarat offers everything one could possibly need. Nothing readily comes to mind."
Action 2:
Once they were on the ship, Kamiya walked every inch of the ship to familiarize herself with it. She agreed with the others that the holographic suite provided cool options. She was hoping that she'd be able to load some engineering modules to learn how to better take care of the Sunrise Maiden. She still could barely believe that she was piloting a ship. It was a dream come true.
"I would like very much to see where you all come from," she said as they gathered for their pre-flight meal. "Perhaps we can all load a simulation of our home into the VR suite, and show each other around. I would love to show you some of Idara, and of course, Kasath. It is home, though I have never been there."
"Considering we're currently traveling to where I'm from, I'm out. But I would also love to see where you others are from. To see where you started from and how you wound up on the Station."
Action 1:
Great, another parent. Another parent who seems somewhat over-protective.
Kamiya perked up at the mention of food. "I'm pleased to meet you, Ruth. I like the sounds of you keeping me well fed but are you sure you want to be a mother? Wouldn't wise mentor be better? But you are our ship so you can think of us however you'd like."
Action 2:
Kamiya nodded, "Even if it's not a documentary, it may be a little informative. Wasn't the guy we're going to Castrovel to learn about an explorer who went on a dangerous trip? Or at least a scandalous one."
"I would like very much to see where you all come from," she said as they gathered for their pre-flight meal. "Perhaps we can all load a simulation of our home into the VR suite, and show each other around. I would love to show you some of Idara, and of course, Kasath. It is home, though I have never been there."
"Considering we're currently traveling to where I'm from, I'm out. But I would also love to see where you others are from. To see where you started from and how you wound up on the Station."
"You saw where I was from," Zadie shrugged. "The Station. Nothing very interesting there."
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Kamiya considered what could be purchased on the Station that was hard to get on Castrovel but was drawing a blank. "I can do some quick research but Qabarat offers everything one could possibly need. Nothing readily comes to mind."
”Whatever it might be, it’d likely take a fair load of credits to be able to buy enough bulk to make much of a profit after all the handling fees and such,” Robert said, shrugging his shoulders. Although the idea of more profit did catch his fancy. ”Perhaps it’d be easier to start by seeing if there are any goods belonging to other people that needs transporting to where we are going? Since we have all that empty hold space, that might allow us to make a bit extra on the side, with very little need of starting capital from us.”
Action 1
She sighed, “I am Ruth and I am here to keep you safe and to make sure you are well fed and have the proper clothing. It is good to meet you all. Do you mind if I call you my children? I can see that you are all so young…”
”Whatever floats your boat,” Robert replied. He was quite comfortable with AIs, considering his technical background and goals in life. As long as it was merely an AI and not sentient in its own right… he did not relish the thought of the ship’s controlling intelligence developing real feelings and motivation all of a sudden. That was, after all, why software engineers were very careful to install limitations to the more powerful AIs’ abilities to format their own base code. The thoughts of, say, a complex air traffic control systems quickening close enough to sentience to develop a fear of heights was rather frightening.
This was… well, it did show a distinct personality, but then again, the more powerful AIs (and it’d have to be a powerful one to manage a starship’s operations) that were given a personality in the first place could score high on the Turing scale. So it was impossible to tell. He’d have to make a mental note to run some diagnostics on the sly, to see how far the Maiden’s AI had been pushing its boundaries during its decades of isolation.
Action 2
Kamiya nodded, "Even if it's not a documentary, it may be a little informative. Wasn't the guy we're going to Castrovel to learn about an explorer who went on a dangerous trip? Or at least a scandalous one."
”Ugh. I can see why the Starfinders weren’t too keen on keeping the fellow around,” Robert said after a quick glance at the so-called archaeological article. ”It’s got almost zero scientific value, and leaves a lot to be desired for as fiction too.”
***
Sometime later during the Drift jump...
Despite his early misgivings, putting together a holovid representation had been an interesting little diversion during their unpredictable Drift jump. Thus, when the chamber’s projectors spun into active state the monotonous grey of the walls was replaced with an image of a sea of pillowing white and red clouds, with the massive orange and pink shape of the gas giant Liavara looming overhead, looking close enough to touch if one were to just reach out…
”Arkanen, the most heavily populated of Liavara’s moons,” Robert murmured as the point of view shifted as if a person raising his head to stare at the Dreamer. Arkanen’s current orbit had taken it north of the gas giant’s equator so the famed ring was nowhere to be seen, but the shadows of its other moons were prominent, dark patches on what appeared to be a solid surface but was in fact hundreds and hundreds of miles of dense gas around a core of metallic hydrogen.
”Beautiful place in its own way, I guess, but utterly lethal to human life, even when the moon’s erratic orbit doesn’t bleed off most of its atmosphere into space. Good for some very exotic organics, though, which would explain all the biotech research and refineries,” he continued, as the point of view shifted once again, drawing back and turning around to show that they were inside a dome-city if stale grey cremacrete and armorglass towers placed with geometric precision to fill all available space as efficiently as possible while still retaining some semblance of illusion of free space.
”A great place to work for a living, if you are into biological sciences or technomancy, planetology or high-energy physics. Not that great to live or grow up in. Everyone expects you to skip through the non-productive childhood and straight into higher education, just as soon as your brain is developed enough to receive skill-memory implants. A place where people go to work so they’d be able to afford to live the rest of their lives somewhere else. Unless working equals living for you – then this place is a paradise on earth,” Robert sneered.
”Mind you, the fireworks can get impressive when the Dreamer’s magnetosphere stirs things up during the closer passes,” he went on, and time sped up in the holographic projection, days and nights flickering past for a few dizzying seconds, until a blinding flash turned everything into pure white. As everyone instinctively blinked their eyes the image stabilized. The dome was now dark, lit with minimal illumination and the clouds outside were angry reddish-brown and purple in colour. Muffled flashes of light hinted at a thunder storm occurring somewhere below the dome-city, drawing everyone’s attention to the first leader that stabbed upwards. Higher, higher, reaching out towards the gas giant that was definitely closer than before.
Was met with a return stroke from the gas giant itself.
Everything went white again as the plasma channel erupted with a truly titanic electric charge.
”It’s been theorized Arkanen is an alien artefact… perhaps a power plant of enormous proportions,” Robert went on as bolt after massive bolt of energy connected the gas giant to its tiny moon. ”Seems too much of a stretch that all of these oddities are occurring naturally in one place. But it certainly stirs the loins of all the high-energy techs around the system; enough energy to power a high-tech colony for a year in just one of those bolts, and they are no end to them. One thing is certain – be out flying during a worldstorm and you are reduced to subatomic particles in a heartbeat. Same thing inside a dome, of course, if the countermeasures ever fail. Heard stories about that happening some times in the past, but then again, one would spin yard about such things in a place like this. If you can’t stop it and are too stubborn to leave, best just joke about something that happens this time every local year.”
”These storms also draw a certain breed of religious loonies like bees to honey – guess seeing divine wrath with their own eyes tickles their fancy.” This time there was no hiding his disgust at the thought. ”Morons, one and all.”
"You saw where I was from," Zadie shrugged. "The Station. Nothing very interesting there."Oriana shook her head, "I barely saw a fraction of the Station. I would love to see the part that you call home, or somewhere important to you. After all, it is our homes, our histories and our traditions that shape who we are. If we are to live and work together, I would be honoured to more about you, and what is important to you."
Zadie's shrug coincided with an eye roll and a massive sigh. "I guess," she replied, clearly unenthusiastic.
"This is Absalom Station," Zadie droned over a holoprojection of the outside of the station with all the enthusiasm of the narrator of an educational filmstrip. "This is, in fact, the best possible view of Absalom Station because it means you're leaving it, instead of being stuck inside. See all these guys out here?" She waved her arm around at the cloud of ships surrounding the station. "This is the Armada. They're the coolest people in Absalom Station because they aren't in Absalom Station. They can drop in, do their shopping, do what they want, and then get out and go where they want."
"No one knows who built Absalom Station because of the Gap," she went on. "Before then there was a planet here called Golarion. No one knows what happened to it, either, but the Starfinders are all about finding out. The Station is supposedly powered by the Starstone, a big rock than used to be on Golarion, but no one's allowed to go down there and see it. There's not even any vid of it, so...." She trailed off, her eyebrows raised significantly, to embrace all kinds of possible conspiracy theories.
"You saw the Spike when we went to the Fusion Queen. This," the holoprojection dove alarmingly through the station's central dome to leave the viewers apparently dangling precariously above the treetops of Jatembe Park, "is the Eye, where all the rich people live. That right there," they dashed over the trees to look down at an imposing fortress, "is Bastion, where my dad works. Well, he doesn't really work in there all the time, but it's HQ for the Stewards. Most of the time he's in a local station in the Arms or the Ring."
The holovid shifts to less luxurious surroundings, wide station corridors lined with apartments and storefronts. "The Ring's where I grew up. It's really boring. I mean, the Station's boring, but the Ring's really boring. The Eye's got the fancy stuff, and the Spike's got the dangerous stuff, and the Ring's just ... there. This is where my other dad works, the Golden Vault." Despite her words, the ten-story tall symbol of Abadar that climbs the side of the building is fairly impressive to those who aren't used to seeing it.
"And this is Freemarkets." The holovid shifted again to hover over a riotous bazaar of storefronts, stalls, kiosks, and vehicles, selling goods of every kind and from all Pactworlds to a crowd of many races. "It's pretty cool, actually," Zadie admitted grudgingly. "You can find stuff from all over the Pactworlds there. That's where my dads met."
"So ... that's it," she wrapped up, as the holovid snapped off, leaving them in the blank suite. "That's Absalom Station. You can say you've been there, and you never have to go back."
Good stuff people!
I'll wait a little bit for oriana's promised post and then have you land in Castrovel tomorrow.
Questions?
Game on!
"I have never had a mother." John announced out loud. "I would be prepared to experiment with the relationship ruth. My name is John Anderson, PLLC. My agents are Alice, Barb and Cass."
As everyone else had done an overarching presentation, John decided to do the same. The room filled black, pinpoints of stars out at the edges. A glint of light in the centre of the room indicated something floated in the void. John waved, and a wireframe model of glowing green lines formed around the remnants of a ship.
"This was where my consciousness arose. The luxury liner the Red Queen. The Red Queen had been tumbling for at least a century and a half without power when I awoke."
The scene was replaced with a dark hallway, lit only by the fading glow of a stasis pod indicator: "Maximum safe stasis period exceeded. Stasis aborted." One wall of the room it sits in is simply gone, and the back void of space can be seen through the ruin of structural struts.
"Fortunately the generator that powered the pod was still operational, being linked to a solar array on the outside of the ship. While the amount of power available was minimal, the ambient light was enough to allow me to charge my comms unit. That unit contained Alice." In the darkness, wireframe surrounds everything, and handy green text illuminates various features.
"Alice had an IT troubleshooting program - Barb. Though Barb had never been designed for the level of issues I found, she was able to help me cobble together enough basics to allow me to survive. I was fortunate that the suit I was in stasis in had warming pads, and that I did not need to breathe. I was further fortunate that the galley had survived." John waved again, and the room was replaced with a stainless steel room, covered in debris from what looked to be an explosion. "Space proved to be an excellent preservative, and several of the food varieties survived in a form that was non poisonous."
John waved again and the room morphed into a control room, with dead crew frozen in various final positions around the room. "I attempted to salvage the ship's AI; this was where I recruited Cass. Between her, Barb and myself we managed to steer the ship's drift towards Absalom. Over the years we journeyed I had shelter, food, water and even companionship of a sort. My reading indicated that my true danger likely lay in insanity. Ironically, it was exactly the situation in which a stasis pod would have been useful."
John waved again and the room became a holo-suite. "The holo suite was my salvation. I managed to get enough power to run simulations and training for many hours each day. This was my education, my entertainment, and my socialisation."
John waved a final time and the the scene became a shuttle heading towards Absalom. "When we reached Absalom space I arranged for the ship to be scrapped in exchange for a trip into the station. While I still hold affection for the ship, it was infeasible to repair her to operational status."
"All right," Zadie conceded after John's presentation. "I'll admit it. Absalom Station was better than that."
Oriana felt a bit breathless after the human girls whrilwind tour of her station. "Is that why you wished to join the Starfinders? To find a place less boring?" She thought of the markets, and the riot of people and races they'd seen walking around. "With variety like that all around you, I find it hard to believe that you couldn't find anything stimulating. What is it you long for?"
"If you're locked in a jail cell, would you find it 'stimulating' as long as you could order in anything you want?" she asked rhetorically. "My whole life, I had only ever been outside of the station once until those gangs started shooting up the docking bay. It's not even a real place. It's manufactured ... like living in a zoo. I'd have joined anything for a chance to get outside of it and see the universe. The Starfinder Society was just a gig so prestigious my dads couldn't say no to it."
Action 1:
Kamiya watched each of the offerings with rapt attention. She was surprised that seeing where each of them was from actually helped her understand their personalities better. "To see where each of us started and somehow wound up together is quite an amazing thing."
Action 2:
Kamiya was struck by how different her own planet was from each of the other's. "There is beauty and power in each of the places where you're from, even if that power comes from raw survival. I can't wait for you to see how organic Castrovel is in comparison. I mean, Qabarat is like any large city but there is a lushness that I'm sure will be new to all of you. To be honest, I hadn't really missed it until now. I've always been more interested in fast machines than plants."
Action 3:
Kamiya brought the Sunrise Maiden in for a smooth docking. "There you go, Ruth. Safe and sound. They'll take good care of you here."
Action 4:
Kamiya returned Whaloss' greeting, "Thank you so much for taking time out of your busy schedule to meet us and show us around. It is very much appreciated. We're all ready to get started."
She let their host tell the others of the sights of Qabarat as they were chauffeured to the University. She never thought she'd find herself back on campus again. It was a little surreal. As she looked out the window of the robo-taxi, she wondered how long she'd be able to put off seeing her parents. Although she was looking forward to seeing Mahina again. Maybe she had a new vehicle for Tort-Ace to try.
"According to the encyclopedia and service manuals I managed to retrieve, Android consciousness can be reset to a blank state. This frees the soul. It is both death, and the creation of life. It is possible for an Android to trigger this state, but also for the state to be triggered via external command, or even through system error." John looked pensively at his computer "I believe that my previous consciousness was a valuable asset, equipped to act as a white collar employee. I doubt the corporation that owned it sought to wipe its experience, so I suspect the error in the stasis pod triggered a consciousness reboot."
"Still - the concept haunted me. One reason I became certified, incorporated my own company, then declared my body salvage and took ownership of it. Only John Anderson PLLC has the right to reboot the body in which my consciousness resides."