10 Quad 2471 R.E.
Outside the station, the late-spring midmorning temperature hovered around 39°
Standard. The wind speed was negligible. That lack of meteorological instability allowed Eltyn to return to evaluating the results of the latest attempt to delve into the unseen and unknown systems controlling the station. His virties scanned the records of the device?s attempts, but only confirmed what the very first attempts had revealed-that the DNA-infused pressure probe was effective in opening conduit covers, but not in operating doors and windows.
Pressure[DNA] novel (8) ineffective in gaining interior/exterior access.
Suggests [system?] awareness of consciousness/intelligence? Faelyna pulsed back from her work space.
Interrogative possibility of incorporating replica brain-wave patterns?
Would estimate probability of failure to approach unity.
Interrogative integration/facsimile of higher functions? pressed Eltyn.
Equivalent result probable. ????
Your earlier observations. Windows only pass light when humans present/awake.Suggests that full-body-brain construct required. Clone offers theoretical possibility, but to whatend? [disgust] Replica human equivalent to FFH.
Eltyn considered her point…and the associated probabilities. Even before a rational and quick calcjection, he knew she was right. Agree/accept. Interrogative your basis forapproach(9)? [polite inquiry, non-intrusive]
Replication of sensorium… ?????
Basis for reception…[observe]…
Eltyn appreciated the easy access to her protocols, even as he marveled at the ingenuity involved. Then he paused. Interrogative access to polariton generator/imager?
Loan from IPS. ETA on fourday.
She?d wrangled that from the Institute for Physical Science? Excellent. [marvelingadmiration] Duration of loan?
Two months. Maintenance while restructuring fusion laboratory.
Probability of shadow/dark energy imaging?
Real time/space interfaces fully examined. What remains?
Faelyna definitely had a point. The stone doors and windows reacted to human presence and acts, and intent. Yet under a complete range of observable energies, no form of radiation passed the stone?s surface, nor was there any diminution of energy upon impact, nor any observable reaction from the stone. Shadow entanglement?
One possibility.
Interrogative follow-up approaches? he pulsed.
Possibilities…Assistance appreciated.
[grateful thanks] Eltyn had the feeling she was being kind. He could accept that. They?d succeed or fail as a team, and he?d not been that successful.
You spurred thought.
Had he unconsciously private-pulsed her? Or she understood what he was feeling? Frommy failure…your success?
Unsuccessful efforts leading to success are not failure. Our success.
[apprehension/hopefulness]
At that moment came a white pulse, followed by, MCC Met Station(W). Request b/updata, confirming sandstorm intensities, past year. Absent from report. ?????, Eltyn private-pulsed to Faelyna. Idiots 5! [contempt]
[fatalism 2] You expected competence?
[rueful shrug] She was right. Their project had been buried in Meteorology because RucheMet was known not to be aggressively self-examining. He pulsed back, MetControl. Datasent. Possible transmission loss. Appendices 2 amp; 3. Resending this time. It took him several seconds to locate, link, and resend the report.
MCC MetStation (W). Request b/up report transmission for future reports. CommNetcapacity interference increasing.
MetControl. Will comply.
Eltyn paused, frowning. CommNet capacity interference? When RucheCom had been touting more than adequate capacity for generations to come? He keyworded/concepted the term and pulsed Ruche reference, tagging for current news.
All he got was a definition. Loss of data in transmission resulting from unbuffered packetinterruption. The image at the top of the virtie-screen, above the words, was one of the standard ones-an image of Ruche Central, the golden-domed hexagonal structure at the center of Hururia, shimmering in the cooler sun of its northern latitude.
He pulsed Faelyna. Capacity interference?
Raelyn noted same at IPS. [skepticism] Full-band monitoring could reduce net capacity40%.
Eltyn pondered that for all of ten seconds, until he received another MetCom transmission.
All dispatches/reports to RucheCom and Meteorology require complete impersonality.Failure to comply will result in disciplinary action.
Complete impersonality??? offered Eltyn on a local pulse to Faelyna. Rationale?
Rationality? [ironic not-quite-disbelief]
Excessive individualism is the root of societal collapse and the bane of the Ruche.
[sarcasm][snort]
The "new" tenet of The Fifty? ???? Old tenet. Very old. Resurging with the possibility of another Searing, replied Faelyna.
IPS not solar meddling?
After the discovery of the ruins at Jheana? Not likely. Sandstorms and drought equate toSearing for most workers/drones. They vote-post. The Fifty reacts.
Unfortunately. [wince]
They may not react enough. [sadness/cynical worry] Fear reinforces worst of tradition.
Great 3 Wonder. After a moment, Eltyn added, Suggest we work on additional approachesfor use of polariton generator/imager. Intensive uses.
[complete agreement]
Outside the station, under the smoldering sun, the temperature crept higher. The blue-gray waters of the canal held little more than ripples, those generated from the low ocean waves, ripples that subsided into stillness a handful of kays to the east of the station.