253 lines
11 KiB
Plaintext
253 lines
11 KiB
Plaintext
## BEGIN AUTOMATED SHIP'S LOG ##
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, . . + . o
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. ,
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* -o- . . * .
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, * -0====>
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/ / '
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/ / ___ ___ // ___ ___ ___
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/ / // ) ) || / / //___) ) // // ) ) // ) ) //___) )
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/ / // / / || / / // // // / / // //
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/ /____/ / ((___/ / ||/ / ((____ // ((___( ( ((____ ((____
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--------------------- [SB-129 Class Starship] ----------------------
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Earth Date: 2312-09-20T00:00:00Z
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System uptime: 51 days
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Location: Mercatan Space
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>embed --start 0 --end 6 "Captain's Log"
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Fetching Captain's Log excerpt...
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Captain's log, Earth time 2312-09-19T20:19:36Z.
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After much pestering by Xēcnes we are proceeding to a region of
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space that could supposedly hold some answers regaring the
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Lovelace's little stray tour.
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Xec believes to have discovered some strange readings thereabouts
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that show similarities to the alien technology on board.
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>embed --start 0 --end 96 2312-09-19sa.tscript
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Fetching transcription file...
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SYSTEM: 3 aliens vessels are approaching at high speed.
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Appropriate personel please report to the bridge.
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(silence)
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SYSTEM: 'Captain' Aanya, please report to the-
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AANYA: Yeah, yeah, I'm coming, I'm here.
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SYSTEM: 3 alien vessels are going to intercept the Lovelace
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in 1 minute and 13 seconds.
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AANYA: Yeah, okay, got it. (yawn)
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Wait. What sort of ves-
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ST-WEK: What's all that noise.
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XECNES: Three alien vessels are-
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ST-WEK: Yes, I know, I gathered this from the very loud
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and very annoying alarm. I think we all heard it.
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AANYA: What sort of vessels?
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SYSTEM: Unknown.
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XECNES: Aanya, did you transmit all of the Haven's data into
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the System?
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AANYA: Would it recognize our old friends, you mean?
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Of course. This far out of their space I think the
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chance of meeting them is slim anyway.
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Still, whoever these guys are, I think we should
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avoid them either way.
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ST-WEK: Agreed.
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XECNES: But they might know something about the Lovelace's
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journey. I think we should talk to them.
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(crashing sound)
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SYSTEM: 1 of the ships has opened fire.
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ST-WEK: Thank M'Ghs we've got you or we would never have
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known.
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XECNES: The alien ship is attempting to communicate with us.
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AANYA: It's been doing plenty of communicating already.
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Ignore them, I'm getting us out of here.
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(clicking and beeping)
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AANYA: Damn, they've got us cornered on all sides.
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(crashing)
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AAYNA: (sigh) Let's just see what they want.
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(beeping)
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UNKNOWN: Alien vessel: You have illegally entered Mercatan
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Space. This justifies a fine of 400-
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(silence)
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ST-WEK: aanya, he's staring at you..
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AANYA: i've noticed, thanks.
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(whispering between two people on the other ship)
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AANYA: might as well seize the change to get us out of here
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(clicking)
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UNKNOWN: Wait! I think we might have gotten off on the wrong
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claw here, heh.
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My name is Reniw, 3rd Captain of the Authority's
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Space Fleet. You are cordinally invited to visit
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Mercat Prime. We apologize for any inconvenience
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we might have caused you, you know how it is with
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all these freeloaders nowadays, heh.
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SYSTEM: Matching designation "RENIW" to "UNKNOWN" entity.
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RENIW: What?
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AANYA: Don't mind our System, it's a bit.. chatty.
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ST-WEK: something you could could've fixed already..
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AANYA: sh!
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XECNES: This is a pleasant turn of events. I have been
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meaning to ask the inhabinants of your system-
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RENIW: The invitation has been extended primarily to the
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Lady Amentis.
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ST-WEK: who?
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AANYA: Could you give us a minute?
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(clicking)
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AANYA: Time to make like a fly and say bye bye I should
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think.
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XECNES: What? We are so close to uncovering a vital piece
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in our search for truth!
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ST-WEK: Who is this 'we' you're always on about.
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AANYA: Look, we know this human thing is important to you.
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But you saw how this guy regarded you, to him
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anyone other than me on this ship might as well be
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part of the furniture.
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XECNES: I do not mind.
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AANYA: Oh yeah, sure, and what happens when he finds out
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I'm not this Lady he thinks I am? No thank you.
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ST-WEK: Not worth it.
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AANYA: I'm getting us out of here. Surely they would not fire
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on their precious Lady Mantis or whatever.
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(clicking and beeping)
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(sudden crashing)
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XECNES: They are requesting communication.
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AANYA: Granted!
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(beeping)
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RENIW: Her Ladyship's presence has been requested by the
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Authority himself.
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AANYA: Look, I don't know who this chick is but I'm not
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her.
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RENIW: At this point that is irrelevant. If the Authority
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wants you to visit you're going. Sorry ma'am, I
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can't lose this job.
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AANYA: Oh, shut up!
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(clicking)
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AANYA: So, kids, it seems we're going on a field trip.
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>embed --start 134 --end 160 "Personal Log: Xēcnes"
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Fetching Personal Log excerpt...
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Though it came about through less than optimal means, I was glad I
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had the chance to explore the planet which might lead me to an answer
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regarding the Lovelace's mysterious disappearance from human space.
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Once we had been escorted to Mercat Prime, Aanya was granted a
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mandatory audience with the Authority in Metropolis 17, while St'Wek
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and myself were shown to the outer region of the city.
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Once there we found there was no way for us to return to the city
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centre.
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The planets infrastructure was not fit for flightless creatures
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such as us, since its inhabitans were all winged and bore a
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striking resemblance to the "owls" on Earth.
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Even if we had been able to fly we found that air travel was highly
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regulated and expensive.
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The residents of Metropolis 17s outer ring were extraordinarily
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uninterested in us. When we approached them to inquire about their
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world they either ignored us or told us not to address them during
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work hours.
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Quite some time passed before a young girl approached us and
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insisted only to speak within the privacy of her appartment.
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>embed --start 25 --end 6x "Captain's Log"
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Fetching Captain's Log excerpt...
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Metropolis 17. The sky was full of smoke, the buildings full of
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people and my host was full of himself.
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His "humble" estate covered about a third of the city. I had to walk
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quite a bit to reach the room I should be welcomed in. Some of the
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kind gentlemen who had forced me to attend had to carry me upwards,
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as there were no stairs.
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The Authority was a young man dressed in an expensive looking,
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coloured gown.
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Before he could speak I demanded an explanation, demanded to know
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where my friends were, hurled a few insults at him and told him slowly
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and clearly that I was not this Lady Amentis everyone was so randy
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about.
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He simply laughed at me as he waved his underlings to leave the room.
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Of course, he said, I was not Amentis. Amentis, he said, was an old
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Mercatan legend: a spiky purple woman who would bring wealth to the
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nation. He himself did not believe in fairy tales, of course, he
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said, he only believed in the rock hard value of his money.
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But the people, he said, had been getting unhappy lately, had been
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close to acting up about this whole financial crisis or whatever, he
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said (he said the words like it was an altogether curious and amusing
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concept to him), so he thought it a nice turn of events to have one
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of those purple women walking right up to his door and wiping
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her legendary purple feet on the welcome mat of pure gold.
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I listened to his tale with all the patience you can expect of a girl,
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noted how it was very interesting but I would rather like to leave
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with my friends now, thanks.
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My reasonable host reasonably denied my request and reasonably
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reqiured me to walk about in the city and hold a little speach about
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the things to come and maybe even about how great a leader The Autho-
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rity was, before he would leave us all go, promise.
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I was no fan of this idea but it seemed a small price to pay to
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finally get off of this awful planet.
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Splendid, he said, we shall travel to outer ring in the morrow.
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>embed --start 161 --end 171 "Personal Log: Xēcnes"
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Fetching Personal Log excerpt...
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Her appartment was a small room in one of the living blocks. She
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shared it with five other Mercatans, who weren't present at the time.
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At work, she explained. She herself worked the night shifts.
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St'Wek and I had barely enough room to breathe at the table in the
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corner of the room that she had invited us to sit at.
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She introduced herself as Oliz and had many questions for us about
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the life in space. In this part of the outer ring most people worked
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constructing parts for space ships. She'd always dreamed of traveling
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Before leaving the planet I had the chance to
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aquire an excerpt of her personal journal regarding our meeting.
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>embed "Other: Oliz' Diary"
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Fetching file...
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These travelers were the strangest creatures. I could tell instantly
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that they were not from any Mercatan colony looking for work on our
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prosperous planet. Those are usually uninterested in conversation,
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more focused on doing the work they came to do, keeping to themselves.
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Finally, I thought, some people that can tell me
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what it's like to live among the stars, to explore the greater
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Mercatan regions and beyond.
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The smaller one was very talkative, asked many questions about the
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Authority and the nature of our society. I told it about the
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Authority's great services to Mercatkind, his Space Fleet and how I'd
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love to join it one day. It wanted to know if we had seen any strange
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alien objects in our region within the last 20 revolutions around
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our sun. Of course I had not been alive that long, said I.
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They asked me to fly them to the city to see their friend. Hah!
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Can you imagine? If I could afford flying to the inner city, i said,
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I wouldn't be here anymore, would be joining the space program.
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That was enough of their questions, I demanded some answers to mine.
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The smaller one, Xēcnes, told me some fascinating details about
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space, was surprised I didn't know these things, as interested as I
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was, it said, I had less than adequate knowledge of my own system.
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How rude! Education is expensive after all. Once I have enough money,
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i said, I'll be moving to the inner city, joining the program,
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learning much about space and going there myself, thank you.
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The taller, wider one, who had been quietly sitting there and watching
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us converse, scoffed at this.
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Xēcnes asked how much money I had left to save for the education after
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paying for shelter and food. Truly, I was losing more money than I
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made at the moment. Xēcnes made some comment to its companion about
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a planet called earth and the devide of its people into classes and
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castes. I quickly corrected this misrepresentation! I may not have
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been born to as much money as the Authority, i said, but I am just as
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able to earn my place in higher society as anyone else.
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If I worked more hours, I informed them, I would have more money and
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could eventually afford to move to the inner city. Impressed with my
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dedication, I should quickly get a better job there and eventually
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make my way to the Space Fleet. So, a
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