010: Off to The Deeps

[helvorn]

Walt-
”Sounds perfect to me!”

Walt figures that, with the most recent Ancients uplift, he is growing in psi capability. His desire to hunt down an instructor is waning. Finding one for the otherss, however, is still good, if it can be done. He might try his hand at Streetwising it in Glisten and Vincennes.”

He’ll offer to the others: “With my growth in Psi due to these uplifts, I don’t think I need a lot of instruction. But I’m certainly willing to go on an expedition at Glisten and/or Vincennes to find a teacher….if you want me to. If we find a cabal, what do you think of offering them to relocate to Reavers Deep and openly practice while simply setting up an organization of mundanes or the government to send us their recruits or wild psi captives?

William will nod. "Trying to find resources in the official Imperial organization is a dead end. I think we would have more luck on Glisten or Vincennes. I think it offer of refuge would be in order although I doubt they will trust us without some extraordinary opened of our minds. I would also be a little worried about manipulation but I think we have enough power ourselves to avoid that."

[helvorn]

As the loading up is commencing, Metz will briefly get the partners together. "I have made an evolutionary breakthrough in the food plants I developed for Aki and would like to go there rather than Glisten if there is no objection. I have a ship full of seeds and living plants on the way there, but I want to find the right people to get this project going before we leave this area. We made a commitment, even if they are unaware of it, and I intend to see this through. The more recent versions of the food plants not only thrive in the dry climes and are not subject to the atmospheric taint, the stalks collect the taint in an inedible nodule that can be disposed of and clean the air. While it will not solve their problems, it will make things somewhat better over time and perhaps convince them to take an offer of a cleanup project more seriously."

He looked over at Ciencia. "While we don't need to remain there for the roll out, we could start a colony recruitment campaign, and they could catch up to us. Anticipating this, I had a colony ship sent with the cargo ship, and it has an escort similar to ours. Also, I would like to swing by Vincennes to recruit there. Siphoning off some of the high-tech savvy scientists and engineers will serve us well as we grow. We can also pick up samples of some very advanced Imperial technology that we can use to our benefit once we are out of Imperial space."

That said, he looks to the rest of you to see if anyone has any objections.

"Doctor Metz I think your idea is brilliant. What think we might do is set up a very long horizon terraforming project that could pick a couple of planets in each domain that would be amenable to modification using enhanced, natural processes such as your plants. It could be done on a long return basis for investment. Some of the Vilani organizations probably invest all the time scale for which we would be looking."

[terrymixon]

As the loading up is commencing, Metz will briefly get the partners together. "I have made an evolutionary breakthrough in the food plants I developed for Aki and would like to go there rather than Glisten if there is no objection. I have a ship full of seeds and living plants on the way there, but I want to find the right people to get this project going before we leave this area. We made a commitment, even if they are unaware of it, and I intend to see this through. The more recent versions of the food plants not only thrive in the dry climes and are not subject to the atmospheric taint, the stalks collect the taint in an inedible nodule that can be disposed of and clean the air. While it will not solve their problems, it will make things somewhat better over time and perhaps convince them to take an offer of a cleanup project more seriously."

He looked over at Ciencia. "While we don't need to remain there for the roll out, we could start a colony recruitment campaign, and they could catch up to us. Anticipating this, I had a colony ship sent with the cargo ship, and it has an escort similar to ours. Also, I would like to swing by Vincennes to recruit there. Siphoning off some of the high-tech savvy scientists and engineers will serve us well as we grow. We can also pick up samples of some very advanced Imperial technology that we can use to our benefit once we are out of Imperial space."

That said, he looks to the rest of you to see if anyone has any objections.

"Doctor Metz I think your idea is brilliant. What think we might do is set up a very long horizon terraforming project that could pick a couple of planets in each domain that would be amenable to modification using enhanced, natural processes such as your plants. It could be done on a long return basis for investment. Some of the Vilani organizations probably invest all the time scale for which we would be looking."

He sighed. “I wish I had more confidence that this would help but I suspect those in control will just increase the amount of pollutants that they are putting into the air. Even if it was helpful, it won’t change things for them. Not really. A more technological filtering system would be the way to go, if I doubt they would go that route.

“One thing to keep in mind is that these plants are tailored for the taint on Aki. I’d have to engineer something different for other worlds.”

[helvorn]

As the loading up is commencing, Metz will briefly get the partners together. "I have made an evolutionary breakthrough in the food plants I developed for Aki and would like to go there rather than Glisten if there is no objection. I have a ship full of seeds and living plants on the way there, but I want to find the right people to get this project going before we leave this area. We made a commitment, even if they are unaware of it, and I intend to see this through. The more recent versions of the food plants not only thrive in the dry climes and are not subject to the atmospheric taint, the stalks collect the taint in an inedible nodule that can be disposed of and clean the air. While it will not solve their problems, it will make things somewhat better over time and perhaps convince them to take an offer of a cleanup project more seriously."

He looked over at Ciencia. "While we don't need to remain there for the roll out, we could start a colony recruitment campaign, and they could catch up to us. Anticipating this, I had a colony ship sent with the cargo ship, and it has an escort similar to ours. Also, I would like to swing by Vincennes to recruit there. Siphoning off some of the high-tech savvy scientists and engineers will serve us well as we grow. We can also pick up samples of some very advanced Imperial technology that we can use to our benefit once we are out of Imperial space."

That said, he looks to the rest of you to see if anyone has any objections.

"Doctor Metz I think your idea is brilliant. What think we might do is set up a very long horizon terraforming project that could pick a couple of planets in each domain that would be amenable to modification using enhanced, natural processes such as your plants. It could be done on a long return basis for investment. Some of the Vilani organizations probably invest all the time scale for which we would be looking."

He sighed. “I wish I had more confidence that this would help but I suspect those in control will just increase the amount of pollutants that they are putting into the air. Even if it was helpful, it won’t change things for them. Not really. A more technological filtering system would be the way to go, if I thought they would go that route.

“One thing to keep in mind is that these plants are tailored for the taint on Aki. I’d have to engineer something different for other worlds.”

William smiled. "Think of the challenge engineering solutions for so many planets. Obviously portable we would do would be to pick planets with hospitable political environments for our work. Do what you can on Aki. We can make it public what we are doing and try to drive public opinion to support the work. It will also be a positive advertisement."

[ateno]

As the loading up is commencing, Metz will briefly get the partners together. "I have made an evolutionary breakthrough in the food plants I developed for Aki and would like to go there rather than Glisten if there is no objection. I have a ship full of seeds and living plants on the way there, but I want to find the right people to get this project going before we leave this area. We made a commitment, even if they are unaware of it, and I intend to see this through. The more recent versions of the food plants not only thrive in the dry climes and are not subject to the atmospheric taint, the stalks collect the taint in an inedible nodule that can be disposed of and clean the air. While it will not solve their problems, it will make things somewhat better over time and perhaps convince them to take an offer of a cleanup project more seriously."

He looked over at Ciencia. "While we don't need to remain there for the roll out, we could start a colony recruitment campaign, and they could catch up to us. Anticipating this, I had a colony ship sent with the cargo ship, and it has an escort similar to ours. Also, I would like to swing by Vincennes to recruit there. Siphoning off some of the high-tech savvy scientists and engineers will serve us well as we grow. We can also pick up samples of some very advanced Imperial technology that we can use to our benefit once we are out of Imperial space."

That said, he looks to the rest of you to see if anyone has any objections.

"Dr. Metz, what a wonderful application. Thank you so much for bringing my idea to fruition! There should be a training push about the nodule, so people don't make bean soup out of it.

Arkar gets up and shakes his hand. "Thanks doc not like old times when we were dealing with the law."

Arkar

[terrymixon]

"Dr. Metz, what a wonderful application. Thank you so much for bringing my idea to fruition! There should be a training push about the nodule, so people don't make bean soup out of it.

Arkar gets up and shakes his hand. "Thanks doc not like old times when we were dealing with the law."

Arkar

“It’s my pleasure. I hope it helps them.”

[terrymixon]

Metz looks hesitant, then says something else. “At the risk of Garvin lecturing me, there is another—perhaps more effective—option to add to the resilient food option. It is possible to make an adaptation to the people of Aki that would protect them and their descendants from the effects of the taint.

“It would be a simple, safe medical procedure. It could be specifically tailored to their world or made more general but still effective on Aki. As their taint is carcinogenic, the general one would protect them but the general one would be ineffective against biological taints elsewhere or exotic taints, where a specific adaptation to that world would be effective.

“Personally, I would favor the generic taint protection as it would be effective in many other places, but I’m not sure that the group would approve so I wanted to run it by you. A more powerful general taint protection is in the works for us, along with a few additions to our package of modifications I think we would all find useful, as well.”

[ateno]

"So you would add this to the plants, without telling the populace? I vote no. But we could support a separate religious medical sect to administer and go to the planet and give it out freely with other free medical care? Ideas?

Arkar

[terrymixon]

"So you would add this to the plants, without telling the populace? I vote no. But we could support a separate religious medical sect to administer and go to the planet and give it out freely with other free medical care? Ideas?

Arkar

“I was unclear,” he said patiently. “It is a straightforward as medical procedure that would require informed consent, and would be completely separate from the plants. It is a deliberate genetic alteration done in a clinic that would protect the recipient and their descendants and thus something that would need to be explained in detail so the people that might benefit from it could decide for themselves if it was right for them. It would be completely separate from the food and atmospheric scrubbing.

“The procedure would be completely safe and pose no risk to the patients, though I suspect many will decline the procedure, at least until it is publicly seen as safe and effective. We would need to establish a network of clinics and hospitals to do more than that to earn their trust, but I believe that too would be worthwhile.”

[ateno]

“The procedure would be completely safe and pose no risk to the patients, though I suspect many will decline the procedure, at least until it is publicly seen as safe and effective. We would need to establish a network of clinics and hospitals to do more than that to earn their trust, but I believe that too would be worthwhile.”

"As do I, I trust your science, Lets do it. Should we subcontract to a medical group?"

Arkar

[terrymixon]

“The procedure would be completely safe and pose no risk to the patients, though I suspect many will decline the procedure, at least until it is publicly seen as safe and effective. We would need to establish a network of clinics and hospitals to do more than that to earn their trust, but I believe that too would be worthwhile.”

"As do I, I trust your science, Lets do it. Should we subcontract to a medical group?"

Arkar

"As we would not be there, I believe we would need to find someone to manage the clinics and hospitals. If we were willing to tolerate a little more attention than this would normally give us, I can craft an all-encompassing taint adaptation that will protect the recipients against even biological or exotic taints. As that would be a TL17 development, it would pull eyes our way but would eliminate the need for world-specific or otherwise limited general adaptations.

"Personally, I believe the general good it would bring would make that risk worthwhile, but it is something we would need to agree on. As our new polity will have three tainted but otherwise habitable worlds, we would benefit in offering it to the colonists. It would free them to travel there or not as they wished. If combined with an adaptation making them better able to tolerate high and low pressure, they too could be useful for the general population."

He pursed his lips. "I suppose I should tell you what I have been working on so you can decide if you want the items added to your current augmentations. All of these augments would be ruggedized, self-repairing, and undetectable via invisitech just like the ones you already have.

1. An All Temperature Epidural Enhancement. It would allow you to ignore temperature effects down to -30 and up to +60C. It would also reduce liquid intake requirements by 50%, which would be helpful in arid conditions.

2. Arc-Field Retractable Claws (superior) TL16. 6D AP40. These would be powered by your body, so they would be limited to 10 combat rounds per 24-hour day.

3. The Atmospheric pressure and taint adaptation we were discussing. It would allow you to manage on worlds with Atmospheres 2-9,13-14 without filters or respirators. It includes elimination of awareness of bad odors from taints and protects against biological, non-biological, and unusual taints. This is what we were just talking about.

4. Enhanced mobility (superior) TL16. +12 meters movement per minor action. DM+4 to checks involving balance and ambulatory reflexes. This would make you very quick to move and more agile than before.

5. Gravity adaptation for low and high gravity. Allows normal functioning in low (0.2-0.7) and high (1.4-1.8) gravities while also mitigating the long-term effects of zero-gravity as well on your body."

He raised an eyebrow. "Other than the claws, these are not very intrusive and I'd personally recommend them all to you, but it is your choice as always. I'll test them on myself first, of course. I haven't done so yet, but I'm about ready to."

[ateno]

"All the other stuff aside, I am worried about showing a TL17 to the general population. Cause you know some medical Megacorp will get ahold of it and get freaked by the chemistry. Can you downsize it to TL 15 and keep it to the taint of that world for now? the more we put out the more others will figure out whats happening.

Arkar

[terrymixon]

"All the other stuff aside, I am worried about showing a TL17 to the general population. Cause you know some medical Megacorp will get ahold of it and get freaked by the chemistry. Can you downsize it to TL 15 and keep it to the taint of that world for now? the more we put out the more others will figure out whats happening.

Arkar

"One tailored for Aki specifically would be TL15, so yes. A generic one that encompasses most non-biological taints would technically be TL16, so within the range of tech we have demonstrated and be more useful to a wider population like the one we are bringing together. Perhaps the all-encompassing TL17 fix is too much for a general release inside the Imperium, though not necessarily in our new polity."

[ateno]

"Sounds like a plan, again thank you for your work, I'm a piker."

Arkar

[terrymixon]

"Sounds like a plan, again thank you for your work, I'm a piker."

Arkar

"It's no bother. I find myself even more interested in doing challenging research of all kinds than I was before. This was a pleasure to decode and implement."

[Thumper]

Walt-
”I say we make a public offer for the TL16 augs. The sector by now knows about the many other TL 16 miracles. This will be just another one. Once our polity is established, Metz, you should begin introducing TL17, starting with this.

I will be happy to take all the new mods you have prepared. You don’t need to be the first to demonstrate them. You’ve proven trustworthy enough. I volunteer to be your first augment patient…right after I get a fresh pattern of myself made.

As for Aki, pulling recruits to our polity will decrease the labor pool on Aki. Unless replaced by new immigrants to Aki or replacement by automation, production will reduce. That will create some animosity with the powers at Aki, but that doesn’t really worry me. Nevertheless, recruiting to our polity will be good for the people who choose to come. Might make the powers, who will have to compete for Human Resources, care a bit more about why citizens are so eager to emigrate out of Aki. Voting with their feet might successfully send a message.”

[helvorn]

"I will take a wider upgrade but I would not offer anything above tech level 16 anywhere beyond our polity. Even then I would be very careful about how we integrate it into the wider societal attitudes of the planet."

[terrymixon]

Walt-
”I say we make a public offer for the TL16 augs. The sector by now knows about the many other TL 16 miracles. This will be just another one. Once our polity is established, Metz, you should begin introducing TL17, starting with this.

I will be happy to take all the new mods you have prepared. You don’t need to be the first to demonstrate them. You’ve proven trustworthy enough. I volunteer to be your first augment patient…right after I get a fresh pattern of myself made.

As for Aki, pulling recruits to our polity will decrease the labor pool on Aki. Unless replaced by new immigrants to Aki or replacement by automation, production will reduce. That will create some animosity with the powers at Aki, but that doesn’t really worry me. Nevertheless, recruiting to our polity will be good for the people who choose to come. Might make the powers, who will have to compete for Human Resources, care a bit more about why citizens are so eager to emigrate out of Aki. Voting with their feet might successfully send a message.”

"As you wish. As for the production on Aki, they have a population in excess of two billion and struggle to feed them. The citizens are restive and severely overcrowd the cities. I do not believe they will be as resistant to the idea of a colony recruitment drive as you imagine."

[terrymixon]

"I will take a wider upgrade but I would not offer anything above tech level 16 anywhere beyond our polity. Even then I would be very careful about how we integrate it into the wider societal attitudes of the planet."

"So noted."

[Thumper]

Walt-
”let’s press…regardless! Recruit and offer the taint augs.”