As I adjust to the sweltering heat, high gravity, short days, and unbearable insects of Kesata, I've decided to distract myself by getting back on my digging into the history here. Of course, suddenly it's not that hard to get at it. The yela'kaja here gave me a good rundown of it in his original briefing, and my talks with the Kesatans seem to tell pretty much the same story that the Xala tell.
Basically it goes like this:
When the Xala first began experimenting with their new gâ'axao, they found quite a few uninhabited worlds. In fact, they even claimed quite a few of them for themselves and build remote bases, most requiring their own life-support. There were a few of what they call "living worlds", but no indication of intelligent life . . . until they met the Kesata.
This was all happening about four thousand years ago, very soon after the discovery of the gâ'axao, and apparently there were differences among the various factions of the Xala in how to use the technology and the resources they were finding. Jed itself had only been unified a few years previously, and the first cloning experiments were just gaining enough acceptance that the eggs were allowed to hatch. In this environment there were some tensions between the traditionalists who opposed genetic engineering and a younger, more liberal group that had grown out of an idea that genetic engineering could aid the species.
The traditionalists, who were called je'e edag (xala ga' je'e edag, "people for true life"), wanted to expand Jed's territory at all costs, and often proposed completely razing life-bearing planets to exterminate native wildlife so that they could reseed it with Jed's life, which they believed was created by their god, do'kajex ("the Mind") to rule over all of existence. Meanwhile, the genetic engineering promoters, who called themselves xala ga' kajex ta' ka'xao (roughly "people for knowledge")*, wanted to study these worlds and look for new medicines, genes, what have you to experiment with to improve the Xala.
Anyway, to get back to Kesata, It didn't take long after finding the planet that the Xala discovered the Kesatans. The reports coming back from the planet initially mentioned them as an interesting animal species that communicated with color and gestures. It wasn't until later that several explorers recognized the signs as a form of language and began to learn it.
This of course, inflamed the whole conflict. The Kajex ta' Ka'xao people wanted to accelerate their genetic engineering program and create an "intermediary" species to communicate with the Kesatans, while the Je'e Edag crowd condemned them as lexala, or "false intelligence", and considered them vermin to be exterminated.
Anyway, as luck would have it, the Kesatans were spared the deadly fate that many human civilizations faced when the Xala turned against each other in a bloody civil war. The Kajex ta' Ka'xao people pulled together and the capital and the gâ'axao stations on several colony worlds, effectively cutting off the Je'e Edag crowd from the rest of the multiverse. The Je'e Edag tried to fight back, but within a period of several coaxrorol, Kajex ta' Ka'xao had taken over government. The war apparently lasted long enough through terrorism and sabotage for them to continue genetics research and apply it to the war effort, eventually overrunning Jed with clones.
Here's where the whole story gets fuzzier. My yela'kaja admits that the story of how Kadjex ta' Ka'xao took over is unclear, and how they were able to advance their cloning technology so quickly is a complete mystery. There is even a legend that spirits from Coaxta gave them the knowledge and the power to do all this. Plus, when I talk to the Kesatans they seem to be very insistent that there was actually a third species involved that actually did attack them, while the Xala insist that any attacks on the Kesatans were committed by Je'e Edag terrorists that slipped through the cracks somehow.
Whatever the case, the Xala that exist today seem to be the descendants (in a weird, genetically-engineered sort of way) of the Kajex ta' Ka'xao. Wherever the Je'e Edag went, I wouldn't expect that they're around anymore. I don't expect to get much more on this subject. After all, it happened four thousand years ago. I am told that the play I'm going to see here has a bit of the war history from the Kesatan point-of-view worked into it. Of course, that'll all be in the Kesatan sign language. I certainly hope my interpreter can understand their dancing better than I can understand some people singing.
Thursday, May 24, 2007
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Welcome to Water World
Yes, as I came off the platform here I was informed by the yela'kaja that Kesata is a Xala word meaning "Water-world", referencing the enormous amount of ocean on this planet. By they way, if you haven't figured it our from my rearrangement of the tabs, I've decided to start calling the people from this planet "Kesatans", because I was getting myself confused all the time. The Xala call them xala kesata, or "people of Kesata"--at least, when they're being polite. It took me some amount of coaxing to get the yela'kaja to give me the name that the Xala often call them amongst themselves, which turned up a few terms: xala gaxes, gaxes, de'gaxes; which all seem to be labeling them as intelligent fish.
I half listened to his big speech about how the Xala discovered this planet, but I'm going to let that information wait a while as I talk to some Kesatans. I think it's much more important that I talk about my trip through the portal.
In my last post, I detailed the four major safety rules they tell you. Here they are again to refresh your memory:
1) Keep to the center of the crystal platform.
2) Don't touch the security field.
3) Remain as still as possible.
4) Wait until the security field is taken down before leaving the platform.
Those rules were repeated to us at the platform, but I only half listened this time, being distracted by the Kesatan-form yela'kaja giving the same spiel while the Kesatan delegation generally half-listened to him. They didn't talk among themselves like humans would, though. I imagine that a sign language takes a lot more eye contact and attention to the speaker, so you probably can't split your attention between two people as easily. Either that or Kesatans are just generally more polite than humans.
Anyway, we all stepped onto the platform, which fit us all quite nicely even if I felt like a sardine and probably smelled like one too being stuck in with all those fishy Kesatans. The security field came up with that terrible screech you always get from Xala force-fields as they harden. There weren't any arcs of electricity as they'd been shown in the diagram, but I didn't test my luck on being electrocuted. After all, the field did look a bit different than the window force-fields I've seen before -- a bit less transparent, it seems like, and sort of bluish.
Anyway, now came the fun part. I decided not to close my eyes so I could describe the whole experience. The crystal below us started to glow and then melted away into a wave of energy that washed over us. It was quick, but I was able to notice my body numbing as the energy came up, and then eventually disappearing from all consciousness, like those body parts weren't even there in the first place. Of course the worst part was when it got to my head. The energy invaded my ears, taking my hearing, and washed over my eyes, which actually completely blinded me for a second before it was all over. That said, I'll never do this with my eyes open ever again.
Anyway, after that split second of blindness, the energy receded again and recrystallized under our feet. When the security field went down I thought something was wrong. The room was identical to the one we left from, right down to the technician at the console. The only indication that I'd actually left Jed at that point was the fact that everything: me, my backpack, my computer case; felt just a little heavier. So I staggered out of the station to find myself in a very hot little Xala structure. I was informed later that the transport room of every gâ'axao station is laid out identically to mitigate initial disorientation.
Anyway, they showed me to the quarters they've prepared for me and I'm acclimatizing myself to the environment before I go outside. This structure is built pretty high up and a good ways from the coast, but you can see the ocean from the window. They tell me they brought me to a favorite recreation spot for several other species the Xala have contacted, so it's apparently built for tourism, though most Xala really don't understand the concept all that much.
I half listened to his big speech about how the Xala discovered this planet, but I'm going to let that information wait a while as I talk to some Kesatans. I think it's much more important that I talk about my trip through the portal.
In my last post, I detailed the four major safety rules they tell you. Here they are again to refresh your memory:
1) Keep to the center of the crystal platform.
2) Don't touch the security field.
3) Remain as still as possible.
4) Wait until the security field is taken down before leaving the platform.
Those rules were repeated to us at the platform, but I only half listened this time, being distracted by the Kesatan-form yela'kaja giving the same spiel while the Kesatan delegation generally half-listened to him. They didn't talk among themselves like humans would, though. I imagine that a sign language takes a lot more eye contact and attention to the speaker, so you probably can't split your attention between two people as easily. Either that or Kesatans are just generally more polite than humans.
Anyway, we all stepped onto the platform, which fit us all quite nicely even if I felt like a sardine and probably smelled like one too being stuck in with all those fishy Kesatans. The security field came up with that terrible screech you always get from Xala force-fields as they harden. There weren't any arcs of electricity as they'd been shown in the diagram, but I didn't test my luck on being electrocuted. After all, the field did look a bit different than the window force-fields I've seen before -- a bit less transparent, it seems like, and sort of bluish.
Anyway, now came the fun part. I decided not to close my eyes so I could describe the whole experience. The crystal below us started to glow and then melted away into a wave of energy that washed over us. It was quick, but I was able to notice my body numbing as the energy came up, and then eventually disappearing from all consciousness, like those body parts weren't even there in the first place. Of course the worst part was when it got to my head. The energy invaded my ears, taking my hearing, and washed over my eyes, which actually completely blinded me for a second before it was all over. That said, I'll never do this with my eyes open ever again.
Anyway, after that split second of blindness, the energy receded again and recrystallized under our feet. When the security field went down I thought something was wrong. The room was identical to the one we left from, right down to the technician at the console. The only indication that I'd actually left Jed at that point was the fact that everything: me, my backpack, my computer case; felt just a little heavier. So I staggered out of the station to find myself in a very hot little Xala structure. I was informed later that the transport room of every gâ'axao station is laid out identically to mitigate initial disorientation.
Anyway, they showed me to the quarters they've prepared for me and I'm acclimatizing myself to the environment before I go outside. This structure is built pretty high up and a good ways from the coast, but you can see the ocean from the window. They tell me they brought me to a favorite recreation spot for several other species the Xala have contacted, so it's apparently built for tourism, though most Xala really don't understand the concept all that much.
Monday, May 21, 2007
The Gâ'axao Safety Briefing
It's going to be time to head for another planet in a few hours. The Kesata are finishing up with their meetings, so we'll be heading out soon.
The yela'kaja gave me a big safety talk, sort of like what you're told before boarding an airplane -- only this ain't no airplane ride I'm taking. He was showing me this little holographic diagram of the gâ'axao (that's the short form of gâ'akaxaoda) while he said it. The apparatus itself is kinda strange, though I wouldn't think much about it if I saw it in a big city. I'd probably figure it was some sort of art piece or something.
The whole thing consists of a giant, emerald-green crystal held into a circular frame on the floor with metal braces, kind of like a gemstone setting in a ring, though if there's a creature with a ring big enough to mount this setting on, I don't want to meet it.. The frame holds the crystal into the floor, and the travellers are actually supposed to climb up on top of the crystal. (I'm told that while the crystal is often big enough to transport a small pickup with the upper range being able to support a whole housing unit, it's never more than a step or two above the ground.) Here's where the first safety tip comes in:
1) Try to keep to the center of the crystal.
Here the yela'kaja generated a number of Kesata models, and one human model. When he moved them in there, he pushed us all in tight in the middle, and then caused a little force field to come up around the apparatus. This led to the next warning, which is related to the one I just stated:
2) Under no circumstances is the security field to be touched. It is electrified for your safety.
To illustrate this, he had the little human figure walk up to the force field and touch it. With a little animated lightning bolt running up his arm, he fell backward unconscious. By this time I had it figured that his was his version of the little safety cards you get in an airplane, so I kept on paying attention. His final rule on departure:
3) Remain as still as possible while the entrance is in progress.
That was simple enough to show. All the figures stayed quite still as a little wave of energy passed up and down over us. He also recommended I close my eyes before activation. I'll see how that works. He didn't show what would happen if I moved too much.
Anyway, there's one final rule before you disembark:
4) Wait until the security field is taken down before leaving the platform.
Sensible enough. If you try to walk through it, not only will you be electrocuted, but you'll probably get a nasty bruise, seeing as how solid these force fields usually are.
Anyway, I'm going to make sure I know all this before we "enter" Kesata. I've never been through this thing while conscious before, so I'd better keep this stuff in mind. The yela'kaja tells me that there'll be another yela'kaja waiting for me on the other side to show me to a place where I can wait a bit and adjust to the new environment, which the yela'kaja on Kesata is presumably doing right now. I'll be sure to describe the trip to you as soon as I'm on Kesata and have a chance to sit down.
The yela'kaja gave me a big safety talk, sort of like what you're told before boarding an airplane -- only this ain't no airplane ride I'm taking. He was showing me this little holographic diagram of the gâ'axao (that's the short form of gâ'akaxaoda) while he said it. The apparatus itself is kinda strange, though I wouldn't think much about it if I saw it in a big city. I'd probably figure it was some sort of art piece or something.
The whole thing consists of a giant, emerald-green crystal held into a circular frame on the floor with metal braces, kind of like a gemstone setting in a ring, though if there's a creature with a ring big enough to mount this setting on, I don't want to meet it.. The frame holds the crystal into the floor, and the travellers are actually supposed to climb up on top of the crystal. (I'm told that while the crystal is often big enough to transport a small pickup with the upper range being able to support a whole housing unit, it's never more than a step or two above the ground.) Here's where the first safety tip comes in:
1) Try to keep to the center of the crystal.
Here the yela'kaja generated a number of Kesata models, and one human model. When he moved them in there, he pushed us all in tight in the middle, and then caused a little force field to come up around the apparatus. This led to the next warning, which is related to the one I just stated:
2) Under no circumstances is the security field to be touched. It is electrified for your safety.
To illustrate this, he had the little human figure walk up to the force field and touch it. With a little animated lightning bolt running up his arm, he fell backward unconscious. By this time I had it figured that his was his version of the little safety cards you get in an airplane, so I kept on paying attention. His final rule on departure:
3) Remain as still as possible while the entrance is in progress.
That was simple enough to show. All the figures stayed quite still as a little wave of energy passed up and down over us. He also recommended I close my eyes before activation. I'll see how that works. He didn't show what would happen if I moved too much.
Anyway, there's one final rule before you disembark:
4) Wait until the security field is taken down before leaving the platform.
Sensible enough. If you try to walk through it, not only will you be electrocuted, but you'll probably get a nasty bruise, seeing as how solid these force fields usually are.
Anyway, I'm going to make sure I know all this before we "enter" Kesata. I've never been through this thing while conscious before, so I'd better keep this stuff in mind. The yela'kaja tells me that there'll be another yela'kaja waiting for me on the other side to show me to a place where I can wait a bit and adjust to the new environment, which the yela'kaja on Kesata is presumably doing right now. I'll be sure to describe the trip to you as soon as I'm on Kesata and have a chance to sit down.
Friday, May 18, 2007
Big Cities, Big Plans
We've been touring around some of the cities now. When I say "city" I'm referring to little clusters of those Xala floating buildings linked together with some cables and little bridges. Some of them are small, two or four units put together. Others can have dozens of units all lashed together and bridged -- especially as we near the coastline. Usually they're all just housing units, and just as boring in their architecture as the unit I stayed in just as I arrived here, but as you get into bigger cities you see specialized units.
Some of these cities serve as manufacturing centers, building parts for whatever projects need done. Raw materials are ferried in on floating transports and put into manufacturing units, which are basically cylindrical floating buildings not to different in looks from a housing unit except they have no windows and the top and bottom have sealed hatches. We toured a factory making parts for transports. All the raw materials are lowered into the top hatch to be sorted and prepped on the first level. Then as they filter down through they're shaped, molded, and tested many times, until on the last level the crystals are installed and calibrated and the finished parts are lowered into a transport at the lower level, where they're whisked away to be assembled into new transports or stored as spare parts.
The way they work with the materials is crazy. They actually build a frame in the general shape they want and set up force fields as molds. Then somehow they can break whatever material they want down into microscopic pieces and the whole apparatus practically assembles itself, the only thing left to do is to fit the parts together and fuse them (not bolt, not weld, but fuse). I'm told it's done with nanotechnology -- little microscopic machines ferrying the materials atom by atom onto the force-field mold, or molecularly bonding to pieces together.
Right now I'm resting a bit. One of the nicer cities on our route is built just for entertaining kaja diplomats, and they were able to work up a nice, comfortable room for me -- nice big bed, carpeting, sheetrock walls -- all just like Earth if you ignore the giant force-field window with a view of Coaxta and a nearby Xala city. We're to rest here while they run some maintenance on the transport and prepare us for some trips to other planets. The Ŋãna are going to be going back to their home planet with a diplomatic team to do some sort of tribal council or whatnot. Meanwhile, I hear the Kesata have been taken to the capital to talk to some high council of Jed. I think the name the yela'kaja gave me was "the Council of Jed Proper and All Things Here", which makes no sense to me at all.
Anyway, when the Kesata are done the yela'kaja is going to take me to them and we're going to Kesata (their planet) with them. And of course that dance thing is the first thing on his list of things to do.
Some of these cities serve as manufacturing centers, building parts for whatever projects need done. Raw materials are ferried in on floating transports and put into manufacturing units, which are basically cylindrical floating buildings not to different in looks from a housing unit except they have no windows and the top and bottom have sealed hatches. We toured a factory making parts for transports. All the raw materials are lowered into the top hatch to be sorted and prepped on the first level. Then as they filter down through they're shaped, molded, and tested many times, until on the last level the crystals are installed and calibrated and the finished parts are lowered into a transport at the lower level, where they're whisked away to be assembled into new transports or stored as spare parts.
The way they work with the materials is crazy. They actually build a frame in the general shape they want and set up force fields as molds. Then somehow they can break whatever material they want down into microscopic pieces and the whole apparatus practically assembles itself, the only thing left to do is to fit the parts together and fuse them (not bolt, not weld, but fuse). I'm told it's done with nanotechnology -- little microscopic machines ferrying the materials atom by atom onto the force-field mold, or molecularly bonding to pieces together.
Right now I'm resting a bit. One of the nicer cities on our route is built just for entertaining kaja diplomats, and they were able to work up a nice, comfortable room for me -- nice big bed, carpeting, sheetrock walls -- all just like Earth if you ignore the giant force-field window with a view of Coaxta and a nearby Xala city. We're to rest here while they run some maintenance on the transport and prepare us for some trips to other planets. The Ŋãna are going to be going back to their home planet with a diplomatic team to do some sort of tribal council or whatnot. Meanwhile, I hear the Kesata have been taken to the capital to talk to some high council of Jed. I think the name the yela'kaja gave me was "the Council of Jed Proper and All Things Here", which makes no sense to me at all.
Anyway, when the Kesata are done the yela'kaja is going to take me to them and we're going to Kesata (their planet) with them. And of course that dance thing is the first thing on his list of things to do.
Sunday, May 13, 2007
Moving Again, with some Education on the Way
Apparently our pilot refused to set off until the sun actually set, but he did agree to get the ship warmed up so we could take off quickly, so we're up in the air once more. We're getting into some of the more populated areas -- as I can see from the cylinders floating around us. We're starting to come across some that are linked together to house larger numbers. Xala hunting parties seem more frequent than ever -- which leads me to correct myself yet again. I had been under the assumption that every pack hunted for itself all across the planet, but no. When I talked the the yela'kaja (the old one, woken up from his hibernation) about the numbers of hunting parties we've been seeing recently he corrected me.
"In the more populated areas, there are specialized packs that harvest food, clean it, and prepare it," he told me. "This is necessary with larger population areas, though it does allow their instincts to dull a bit."
Naturally I had another question in an instant. "How is it you have so much wildlife that's suitable for eating? On Earth, we have so many people to feed that it's hard to find enough farmland to catch up, let alone living off the wild!"
His smile was a bit awkward, but I think he really was amused at that. He can't really laugh, though, so he didn't try. "We stock the forests with genetically-engineered game, designed to have a high nutritional content and to be reasonably challenging to catch." He gestured at the window. "The entire spirit side of the planet is 'farmland': continents, oceans, various volcanic islands."
"Spirit side?"
He pointed up at a familiar object in the sky. "The side that faces Coaxta is lôxe coax, the spirit side. The side facing away from it is lôxe tyeg, the side of death, as it is barren wasteland alternately scorched and frozen every coaxrorol."
I guess I'm learning something new here every day. Well, I'm going to have a talk with the Kesata in a minute if they will speak with me. Pray for my poor eyes.
"In the more populated areas, there are specialized packs that harvest food, clean it, and prepare it," he told me. "This is necessary with larger population areas, though it does allow their instincts to dull a bit."
Naturally I had another question in an instant. "How is it you have so much wildlife that's suitable for eating? On Earth, we have so many people to feed that it's hard to find enough farmland to catch up, let alone living off the wild!"
His smile was a bit awkward, but I think he really was amused at that. He can't really laugh, though, so he didn't try. "We stock the forests with genetically-engineered game, designed to have a high nutritional content and to be reasonably challenging to catch." He gestured at the window. "The entire spirit side of the planet is 'farmland': continents, oceans, various volcanic islands."
"Spirit side?"
He pointed up at a familiar object in the sky. "The side that faces Coaxta is lôxe coax, the spirit side. The side facing away from it is lôxe tyeg, the side of death, as it is barren wasteland alternately scorched and frozen every coaxrorol."
I guess I'm learning something new here every day. Well, I'm going to have a talk with the Kesata in a minute if they will speak with me. Pray for my poor eyes.
Wednesday, May 9, 2007
Still Stuck
We're still waiting to get going here. I'm told they're going to try waking up our pilot a little early to see if we can get things rolling before sunset. The yela'kaja keeps apologizing profusely for the delays. Apparently the people who set up this trip for me were going very fast and didn't go through all the protocols, so the route and preparations couldn't be adjusted in time. He seems very angry that my original yela'kaja and the council that advised him came up with this idea and carried it out so badly.
I seem to see a pattern of one Xala cursing the incompetence of another Xala, especially when they depend on each other to do their jobs. It started when my first yela'kaja was just a little pissed at the location of his entrance on Earth and the problems it gave him (which likely included me). Most of the time Xala run things smoothly with machine precision, but whenever one of them seems to be slacking or makes a mistake, somebody's in his face screeching -- and sometimes a whole pack comes down on him. Laziness and incompetence seem to be the very worst sins for a Xala.
Ah, well. I'm not that bad off. The Ngana keep me company. I seem to have made a friend of one of them. I can't remember his name, but he likes to follow me around. They're all a bit curious about me, always asking why I'm alone on the ship, and how I got here. When I told them my little story of getting knocked out in the middle of the street they all laughed at me.
Their own ka'kaja had some problems, but they had all been taken care of quietly. They tell me that the yela'kaja apparently entered below a remote village (I say below because all Ngana live high in the trees) with a huge blast that nearly knocked everyone out of the trees and could have started a forest fire if the place had been drier. They didn't find out about that until later, though, after a mysterious and strange-looking Ngana climbed up from the forest floor. The people of the village swore he was a ghost come back from the spirit world the entire time he was observing and living with them until he went to one of big clan leaders and showed some fancy technology.
I can't go into much more detail, as the Xala don't want me to put down information that could give away their yela'kaja back on Earth (they told me they sent a new one, but they won't tell me where he entered or anything else), but lets just say it's a very funny story and I hope I can put the whole thing down when this is all done with.
I seem to see a pattern of one Xala cursing the incompetence of another Xala, especially when they depend on each other to do their jobs. It started when my first yela'kaja was just a little pissed at the location of his entrance on Earth and the problems it gave him (which likely included me). Most of the time Xala run things smoothly with machine precision, but whenever one of them seems to be slacking or makes a mistake, somebody's in his face screeching -- and sometimes a whole pack comes down on him. Laziness and incompetence seem to be the very worst sins for a Xala.
Ah, well. I'm not that bad off. The Ngana keep me company. I seem to have made a friend of one of them. I can't remember his name, but he likes to follow me around. They're all a bit curious about me, always asking why I'm alone on the ship, and how I got here. When I told them my little story of getting knocked out in the middle of the street they all laughed at me.
Their own ka'kaja had some problems, but they had all been taken care of quietly. They tell me that the yela'kaja apparently entered below a remote village (I say below because all Ngana live high in the trees) with a huge blast that nearly knocked everyone out of the trees and could have started a forest fire if the place had been drier. They didn't find out about that until later, though, after a mysterious and strange-looking Ngana climbed up from the forest floor. The people of the village swore he was a ghost come back from the spirit world the entire time he was observing and living with them until he went to one of big clan leaders and showed some fancy technology.
I can't go into much more detail, as the Xala don't want me to put down information that could give away their yela'kaja back on Earth (they told me they sent a new one, but they won't tell me where he entered or anything else), but lets just say it's a very funny story and I hope I can put the whole thing down when this is all done with.
Saturday, May 5, 2007
Finally, a Break
We've been having some issues. First of all, I got cut off. Apparently the crystal rigged up to that router back on Earth blew, which explains my silence. It's taken a heap of trouble to get that fixed, as they had to send people in covertly. I don't know how they got it done, but I know I'm back online now.
Turns out you didn't miss all that much, though. Shortly after sunrise we docked at a housing unit to change crew to find out that they weren't all ready. The yela'kaja explained that most Xala are not built for working during daylight -- which I can understand. They don't use artificial light here and I just recently learned how dark it was outside until the sun came up. It gets really bright for days and days until the sun gets high enough and goes behind Coaxta. Then it's normal for a while until the sun comes out again. I've completely lost track of time here. The only way I know what time and day it is on Earth is through this computer's clock.
Anyway, we didn't have the crew together back at sunrise and now it looks like we're not going to be going back out until sunset. The Kesata have gone into stasis pods to wait it out. The Xala offered to put me into stasis, but I didn't really like the idea of being locked in a solid crystal. The Ngana didn't want that either, they seem a bit suspicious of it because of their spiritual beliefs. So I've basically been hanging with them all this time (they managed to find two new yela'kaja and give them some quick language training and transformation). Really fun little guys, though. They're pretty good at breaking the boredom.
I've also been trying to get more information about the Xala while I'm at it. My biggest problem is that they seem to be holding back on me. I ask about their history and they just give me the brief "We discovered the portal four thousand of your years ago and currently operate a trade network."
Yes, they really are that general. When I asked the yela'kaja whether their new contacts are not always friendly, he said, "It is our policy to avoid the possibility of armed conflict when possible. Since we have access to an entire multiverse, it is not uncommon to find several planets that have resources we need, and a conflict on one world is usually not in our interests." Now, that's all well and good, but when I asked for a specific example, they wouldn't give me anything.
The only thing I've gotten really specifically was from a Kesata diplomat that had come out of stasis for a swim. (They don't keep you in more than a few days at a time unless they have to. Something about certain species developing psychological problems -- which is why I refuse to go under.) We talked a bit using two yela'kaja interpreters and he explained to me that there was a conflict when the Xala discovered Kesata involving a third intelligent race that was trying to take over the planet. The Xala loaned their weapons and men to the Kesata to repel the attack and received free access to parts of the planet in return. Apparently there's not much land there, but the Kesata only really use the coastlines and just a little bit inland. (They like salt water -- which explains the briny pools on their level.)
I'm going to see if I can find out a little more about this stuff when we get back underway, which I'm sure will mean talking to more Kesata -- the yela'kaja is dodging it with general statements about alliances and ethics and all that crap. I'm glad I'm not epileptic, otherwise I think the light show would kill me when I get back to looking into this.
Meanwhile I'll pass some time hanging with theŊãna. They can't tell me anything about the Xala -- this being their first trip in -- but they're quite fun to hang with. Might even learn some Ngana while I'm at it.
Turns out you didn't miss all that much, though. Shortly after sunrise we docked at a housing unit to change crew to find out that they weren't all ready. The yela'kaja explained that most Xala are not built for working during daylight -- which I can understand. They don't use artificial light here and I just recently learned how dark it was outside until the sun came up. It gets really bright for days and days until the sun gets high enough and goes behind Coaxta. Then it's normal for a while until the sun comes out again. I've completely lost track of time here. The only way I know what time and day it is on Earth is through this computer's clock.
Anyway, we didn't have the crew together back at sunrise and now it looks like we're not going to be going back out until sunset. The Kesata have gone into stasis pods to wait it out. The Xala offered to put me into stasis, but I didn't really like the idea of being locked in a solid crystal. The Ngana didn't want that either, they seem a bit suspicious of it because of their spiritual beliefs. So I've basically been hanging with them all this time (they managed to find two new yela'kaja and give them some quick language training and transformation). Really fun little guys, though. They're pretty good at breaking the boredom.
I've also been trying to get more information about the Xala while I'm at it. My biggest problem is that they seem to be holding back on me. I ask about their history and they just give me the brief "We discovered the portal four thousand of your years ago and currently operate a trade network."
Yes, they really are that general. When I asked the yela'kaja whether their new contacts are not always friendly, he said, "It is our policy to avoid the possibility of armed conflict when possible. Since we have access to an entire multiverse, it is not uncommon to find several planets that have resources we need, and a conflict on one world is usually not in our interests." Now, that's all well and good, but when I asked for a specific example, they wouldn't give me anything.
The only thing I've gotten really specifically was from a Kesata diplomat that had come out of stasis for a swim. (They don't keep you in more than a few days at a time unless they have to. Something about certain species developing psychological problems -- which is why I refuse to go under.) We talked a bit using two yela'kaja interpreters and he explained to me that there was a conflict when the Xala discovered Kesata involving a third intelligent race that was trying to take over the planet. The Xala loaned their weapons and men to the Kesata to repel the attack and received free access to parts of the planet in return. Apparently there's not much land there, but the Kesata only really use the coastlines and just a little bit inland. (They like salt water -- which explains the briny pools on their level.)
I'm going to see if I can find out a little more about this stuff when we get back underway, which I'm sure will mean talking to more Kesata -- the yela'kaja is dodging it with general statements about alliances and ethics and all that crap. I'm glad I'm not epileptic, otherwise I think the light show would kill me when I get back to looking into this.
Meanwhile I'll pass some time hanging with theŊãna. They can't tell me anything about the Xala -- this being their first trip in -- but they're quite fun to hang with. Might even learn some Ngana while I'm at it.
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