high-energy physics

[warpfairy]

Federation political prisons are not particularly uncomfortable. She's not going anywhere, but she can read, she's considering taking up an instrument, the only really awkward thing is that she doesn't particularly want to be supervised while she's sweating her way through her next pon farr one way or another but that's years off. That and she wishes she'd taken longer to get caught. But she was running out of the really low-hanging fruit anyway.

This is what she signed up for. She makes up imaginary profiles of people on the planets she got to, people who can live longer fuller lives with the stars in reach, one per day. One per day and she'll have loads of estimated impact left unused when she dies. Perfectly reasonable tradeoff and she can still read books.

Someone wants to interview her about Vulcan; they don't want to lose anything that anybody remembers; she gives the interview and then picks up some poetry.

Comments

[warpfairy]

"Right."

[lintamande]

"I - appreciate that it's not likely helpful to have strangers of a different species angry on your behalf. But. If it ever does seem helpful we can definitely be very very angry on your behalf."

[warpfairy]

"The people I need to convince are Vulcans and people who, for this purpose, need to think of me as a Vulcan. This means I will probably record my impassioned speech with exactly zero passion."

[lintamande]

"A useful skill. Are they likely to be persuaded? Is this unacceptable by Vulcan mores?

[warpfairy]

"Vulcan mores are about what is logical, in contrast to what is driven by instinct or emotion. Obviously, this approach is very susceptible to different opinions about what tradeoffs are appropriate to seek what goals, but I have a case to make, even if there will be a faction of the opinion that the continuation of the species and acknowledgment of Council authority should supersede what are after all merely my feelings about whether I should be married to a complete stranger. My argument will probably have to be mostly that the Federation would not admit a species that made a habit of this practice and Vulcan's founding membership should not logically grant it special status, and they must stop or exit; they'll choose the former if it does come to that."

[lintamande]

"It seems also that not informing someone in advance, as a policy, only makes sense if you expect that they wouldn't give informed consent, and that the only marriages that would be undermined by changing their approach are marriages that the parties would not have so given their consent for, and that the parties being Vulcans might have logical reasons for declining which the council denies itself any chance to become informed of."

[warpfairy]

"Well, I'm a half-Vulcan only and was principally brought up on Earth. They do not assume I am impeccably logical. It's possible they're informing most people."

[lintamande]

He pinches his forehead. "Charming. The - party Bella had to fight for you?"

[warpfairy]

"May or may not have been informed. He was not in a state to have a conversation and I did not go visit him."

[lintamande]

"Are there other people we need to be rescuing?"

[warpfairy]

"There are very few Vulcans left, and meditating through a cycle is widely considered illogical and most will have already had opportunities to remarry or re-betroth as appropriate, and even if there are a dozen like me they will be spaced out at irregular intervals over a seven-year span. I do not think this is likely to be urgent to the point where it must be handled clumsily in order to get results sooner."

[lintamande]

"All right."

[warpfairy]

"But I do think I will record political speeches, and that one on this subject will be among them."

[lintamande]

"I think that's a great idea."

[warpfairy]

So she goes off and does that. The one about the prime directive is first, but the one about her attempted forcible marriage is second, once she's gauged response. (The first is delivered in standard emotional range. The latter she decides to show off her ability to drop in and out of suppression very fast.)

[lintamande]

They all think it's a fantastic speech, though they might be a tiny bit biased.

[warpfairy]

Well, the science ethernet thinks it's pretty good too. (Although there's a large fraction of lewd remarks about pon farr, which was not previously known to most people to exist.)

[lintamande]

Ethernets bring out the worst in people, Fëanáro says solemnly.

[warpfairy]

T'Mir confirms that this is the case. Unless those people are Davlians, who seem psychologically very well-suited to having a science Ethernet.

People REALLY freak out about the genetic engineering speech.

[lintamande]

The Quendi are definitely lacking some cultural context here. Obviously everyone should at a minimum be immortal, not get sick, and have better eyesight? They can confirm those things are just straight pluses?

[warpfairy]

But there was that war that one time, don't they see.

[lintamande]

They give it a try.


Nope.

[warpfairy]

Anyway, it doesn't take very long for a genetic engineer to spend his life savings on Ferengi transport to their planet.

[lintamande]

They are delighted and are happy to acquire things a genetic engineer might need to do work here.

[warpfairy]

The genetic engineer is delighted. Some of his customers might be taking more discreet routes out.