ALEJO: “We hack the Weave a second time, that also shows strength. Gives us maybe a bit more bargaining position.”
ALEJO: “If, you know, we don’t die.”
TUELLER: “Yes, well, there is that.”
MILLICENT: “I mean, the math for determining when to start the dream so that the optimum number of sentients from each system is sleeping alone is going to be a monumental task.”
TUELLER: “It’s always night on half the systems.”
MILLICENT: “But not every planet has counterweights continents like ours.”
TUELLER: “Anyway, that’s my proposal.”
MILLICENT: “I like it. It’s ambitious and utterly insane in a way I suspect was calculated to make irresistible to me.”
STORY: The bay door closes behind you and your ears pop as Peregrine repressurizes and lifts off the ground. You’re two heads (one with body attached) richer.
STORY: Maya looks around the cargo bay, excitedly poking at crates and shoving a cracker she found into her mouth. It makes a point through her cheek.
TUELLER: “Need a bite of something more substantive?”
TUELLER: “We’ve got more than crackers.”
TUELLER: “That might be leftover from Loll, so we should get more than crackers.”
STORY: She seems to be ignoring you, but the moment Tueller speaks you see her react subtly, turning her foot to be ready to attack if necessary.
TUELLER: Tueller sees it and backs off, but tenses a little himself as well.
STORY: She looks at Alejo.
ALEJO: “Está bien.”
STORY: She nods.
ALEJO: “Es un amigo Simplemente muy grande.”
ALEJO: “Do you speak any English?” He smiles at her.
TUELLER: “I know grande. That means I’m big, right?”
STORY: A note about universal translators: they all know when you’re trying to speak not-universally and shut off translation for those situations, which is why Alejo can speak Spanish even though you can all understand all languages
STORY: “Doesn’t everybody?”
TUELLER: “Close enough.”
MILLICENT: “Why would he need to tell her how big you are?”
ALEJO: He laughs.
TUELLER: “Alejo does a lot of things that aren’t immediately obvious.”
TUELLER: “You roll with it after awhile.”
STORY: She is still watching Alejo. “You’re like me.” It’s not a question.
ALEJO: He nods.
ALEJO: “You alright?”
STORY: She nods. “No gear yet.” She taps her head.
TUELLER: Tueller hefts the bag, looked towards the exit, and then decides to continue with this conversation
STORY: “Gracias.”
ALEJO: He nods again and smiles. “Want something more to eat?”
STORY: Another nod.
ALEJO: “Come on, then.” He gestures for her to follow. “This is Peregrine. Our ship.” He points around.
TUELLER: “Doc, let’s go get this thing stabilized” hefting the bag with the head “and figure out our next steps.”
STORY: She gets the tour, has some grub, and is left in the bridge with Figgan for a grand explanation of all the buttons.
STORY: The three of you are free to discuss the other head. What do you do?
MILLICENT: Millie heads to the lab to get the head stabilized and on ice
MILLICENT: She’ll take a couple of samples to run preliminary tests before freezing it
ALEJO: Alejo sits on a stool in the lab, holding a bag of ice to his head.
ALEJO: (The one on his shoulders.)
TUELLER: “You try to trade one for the other?”
STORY: The head is suspended in some kind of head-liquid in a jar with a portable power source, so you don’t have to freeze it!
STORY: It’s just sort of floating in there, hair moving around a little as the pump goes.
TUELLER: “So. They had a lot of heads.”
ALEJO: “A lot?”
TUELLER: “Not just yours. A large lab full of these things”
MILLICENT: Oh word, thanks.
TUELLER: “Dozens. Hundreds.”
ALEJO: His eyes widen. “Shit.”
MILLICENT: “Were they cloning you?”
TUELLER: “I didn’t see any dupes.”
TUELLER: “Other than the.. you know.”
TUELLER: Tueller nods at the head in the jar.
TUELLER: “The one we were there for.”
MILLICENT: “Well, they wouldn’t have to be exact duplicates. With that much genetic material they might be able to do some genetic splicing.”
MILLICENT: Is that feasible? That they could iterate on the successful subjects by splicing genes?
STORY: Possibly, though Occam’s explanation would just be that they didn’t want their tech getting out. It’s expensive shit.
TUELLER: “It’s probably related to the tech”
TUELLER: “The girl was expecting it, it sounds like. Not voluntarily.”
ALEJO: Alejo leans back agains the wall, still sitting on the stool. “Yeah,” he says flatly.
TUELLER: “I’m sorry; I am probably the least prepared of the three of us to investigate the room. I was just waiting for the nice stupid man to leave so I could grab and go.”
MILLICENT: “Did you see any heads with head wounds? Retrieval would be easiest through the temples.”
TUELLER: “I was just looking for the right kopf. This one has brain trauma.”
TUELLER: “Though we know why.”
MILLICENT: Millie notices Alejo’s distress. “Oh, I’m sorry dear.” She crosses to put a hand on his arm. “This has to be a lot.”
STORY: He’s right; that one has a bullet hole just below the left eye. Looking at it, you remember watching it get there.
TUELLER: “They cleaned it up. If there was something going on with the others, they didn’t make it obvious.”
ALEJO: He smiles weakly at her. “I’m okay. It’s gotta be a lot for both of you too. You saw me . . him get shot.”
TUELLER: “I passed out before it happened.”
TUELLER: Tueller shrugs. “But yeah, it was rough.”
TUELLER: “I had lots of therapy, though.”
MILLICENT: “But I have you here now.” She squeezes. “It helps.”
ALEJO: He reaches up and takes her hand. “Okay, so, what’s next?”
TUELLER: “So what do we do with it now? Other than a paperweight.”
TUELLER: “This is definitely going in my office after we get this all done.”
MILLICENT: “Good, I don’t much want it on my mantle.”
ALEJO: “Hmm.”
TUELLER: “We need to use this to make an unimpeachable proof of the AI cloning.”
MILLICENT: “Well, first I need to examine the head to make sure they haven’t altered your genetic code.”
ALEJO: “That would suck.”
MILLICENT: “Once I’ve run some tests we should be able to say definitively that this body is identical to yours.”
ALEJO: “Then are we recording some sort of video greeting card, with data attached?”
TUELLER: “Then we need to get that to the Ark and to every system where we have a contact who will believe us.”
MILLICENT: Millie nods.
MILLICENT: “And we need to decide where we’re going to ride this all out. Is it the Ark where we have the best potential to convince more worlds, I think, or Sol, which stands to be hit the hardest by the Collective if they decide to retaliate?”
TUELLER: “How do you propose we get to the Ark if we decide to head there?”
ALEJO: Alejo keeps listening but starts rummaging around in the cabinets, looking for something.
TUELLER: “I’m not going through a relay.”
ALEJO: “Wild jump?”
MILLICENT: “Wild jumps are still too risky without ansible technology. So, unless we can convince Remiel to plot a jump for us…”
MILLICENT: Millie punches some things in her terminal. How long will these genetic tests she’s running take?
ALEJO: “Could he do that?”
ALEJO: Alejo finally finds a bottle of ibuprofen.
MILLICENT: “Not without an ansible. Which we have to assume is back at the relay.”
TUELLER: “The ansible IS the relay.”
ALEJO: “So, Sol then. Where do we go to send this message of ours?”
TUELLER: “My vote is for sending things through on skip drives. The Collective has files on us, but nothing we saw in the Weave lead me to believe they were reading every drive that went through. even with all the people there they didn’t have the power to do that.”
MILLICENT: “How long will the skip drives take to reach the closest and farthest targets?”
TUELLER: “They do have dossiers on us, though. I think if we go through we get shunted somewhere or nowhere.”
ALEJO: “Yeah. Makes sense.”
TUELLER: “Skip drives take however long it takes for a ship to get there. They latch on and ride. So we’re talking awhile.”
TUELLER: “But at least they’d get there.”
TUELLER: “And not end up in an autoclave.”
MILLICENT: “I get the benefits, but how long do they take?”
MILLICENT: Years months weeks, what?
TUELLER: They latch onto ships going in the right direction and ride them there. Then get off and get on another ship.
TUELLER: So weeks for places that are weeks away, months for places that are months away, years for places that are years away.
MILLICENT: Sorry, I misunderstood, I thought they were traveling at impulse.
TUELLER: “They’re hitchhikers. They ride the rails.”
MILLICENT: “Is there any way to program them to delay delivering their payload until they’re all in place?”
MILLICENT: “This feels like something we ought to do together.”
STORY: Millie, you could potentially do that if you hacked something together!
TUELLER: “Sure, that’s just a programming thing.”
TUELLER: “We used to do that for birthday messages. I mean, I didn’t. It takes smarter people than me. Luckily we know people smarter than me. A couple.”
TUELLER: “One, at least.”
MILLICENT: “Hmmm, I bet I could cobble something together.”
MILLICENT: How long would it take for 75% of the Ark civilizations to receive their skip drives?
MILLICENT: I’m just looking for a timeframe so we can know how long we after we send them out before we can expect to light this firecracker.
STORY: That’s gonna take some research and probably some hacking into relay records
STORY: You might be able to do it with access to Erde-Maris’s records to see which delegations have come to visit over what period of time and make an extrapolation from there.
MILLICENT: “Well, I’ve got my next big project. Idle hands and all. I’m going to try and figure out how long it’ll take to hit 75% of the Ark civilizations. Does that number work for you boys?”
ALEJO: “Yeah, I think so.”
ALEJO: “Anything we can do to help?”
TUELLER: “I can help crunch numbers. You got the computer skills, but I know trade delegations.”
MILLICENT: “That’d be heavenly, thank you, Tueller. Alejo, dear, will you put a pot on and see if our new crew wants a cup?”
TUELLER: “Faster we get a timetable, the faster we can get whatever message out we decide to get out. We’re going to need some uncrackable unimpeachable authentication for the story we’re telling.”
ALEJO: “Tea duty it is. I’m on it.”
TUELLER: “I assume we’re pointed back to Io?”
TUELLER: “To clear out a place on the mantel for my trophy?”
ALEJO: Alejo frowns at him. Then he leaves to go make some tea and coffee.
MILLICENT: Millie grins after him.
TUELLER: “He’s not rolling with the punches on this one as much as I’d like.”
TUELLER: “I’ll have to double down.”
MILLICENT: “Oh yes, good. Therapy has done you a world of good.”
TUELLER: “Well I’m handling it great!”
MILLICENT: “You didn’t get shot down, Tueller. You’re not literally confronting your own mortality.”
MILLICENT: “Let’s give him a day to brood, because he is so handsome when he’s brooding. He does this thing where he stares out at the stars and. Anyway. Day after tomorrow we’ll sit him down with a bottle of Scotch and make him talk.”
TUELLER: “Well when you put it that way…”
TUELLER: “I’ve got just the bottle for it.”
TUELLER: “Let go do some logistics.”
MILLICENT: “Aye aye, Mister CEO.”
MILLICENT: Do we need to make a roll, Space Marster?
STORY: Oh yes. Yes you do.
STORY: Millie, I would love for you to roll Assessment + Expertise on this one.
MILLICENT: /roll 2d6 + 2
STORY: josh rolled 3 + 2 = 5
STORY: Oh dear.
MILLICENT: Well shit burgers
MILLICENT: I do have help, can my faithful assistant roll?
TUELLER: Tueller is there to assist!
STORY: Sure.
TUELLER: /roll 2d6+2
STORY: chris.stuart rolled 2 + 2 = 4
TUELLER: Oh man.
ALEJO: –Doh.
STORY: Oh boy.
STORY: So the bad news is, it’s going to take a long time. Six months at least, by your estimation.
STORY: And the worse news is, you’re not certain this is going to work.
TUELLER: “I have another idea. It’s less…scientific than this one.
TUELLER: “It’s a long shot. Way a long shot.”
MILLICENT: Wiping the sweat from her brow, “I’m not sure I’ve written a worse program, so I’m open to ideas.”
ALEJO: Alejo tops off his coffee. “Let’s hear it.”
TUELLER: “I trust skip drones. I’ve been using them all my life, and they get the job done quickly and almost never go astray.”
MILLICENT: Whispered, “Stellar cartography was always my worst subject.”
STORY: You need to write algorithms for sets of three skip drones to get them to auto-hack the computers of nearby ships and try to determine their destinations, then write decisioning for each one so they can prioritize which ships to latch on to based on those destinations, then they have to reliably send back the second and third drones to confirm for you when each is in place, then you send back the THIRD skip drone to actually send the go message.
STORY: It’s a nightmare.
TUELLER: Tueller takes a deep breath.
TUELLER: “I don’t know how to do this, but…”
STORY: There is a name for this but I can’t remember what it is.
TUELLER: Another deep breath. “There’s another medium for communication through the universe, accessible by all sentient beings. I don’t know HOW to communicate through it, but we know it exists.”
TUELLER: “We’ve entered it three times so far.”
ALEJO: “Oh shit.”
ALEJO: Alejo tops off Millie’s tea and then sits.
TUELLER: “A collective dream of all sentient creatures would get the point across.”
TUELLER: “That’s…something of a moonshot, I know.”
MILLICENT: Millie sits down heavily and blows on her tea
ALEJO: “Would anyone believe the dream? And what about the data?”
MILLICENT: “We could reach everyone.”
MILLICENT: “The data will arrive in six months.”
TUELLER: “If literally everyone in creation had the same dream? They’d probably trust it.”
ALEJO: “Whoa.”
MILLICENT: “Well, that would certainly start this off with a bang.”
MILLICENT: “Of course, we’d have to exit the Weave after pissing off the probably masters of it.”
MILLICENT: “If we ever wanted to see the effect of our message.”
TUELLER: “I think we’d need Erwin to pull this off.”
TUELLER: “At the very least.”
MILLICENT: Millie nods.
ALEJO: “Last time that got complicated. I assume they’ve upped their security since.”
TUELLER: “But he and Tux worked extensively at testing out the Weave.”
MILLICENT: “He might be able to act as an amplifier.”
TUELLER: “He might be able to talk to his people back home, get some help with them ahead of time.”
TUELLER: “I do not know how it all works. I really don’t.”
ALEJO: “We do this, the Collective is going to know what we’re up to. Right away, right?”
TUELLER: “Right when we send out our message, yes.”
TUELLER: “That was likely going to happen anyway.”
TUELLER: “We wanted to send a timed message to 1000s of civilizations. We can’t keep that quiet.”
ALEJO: Alejo nods. “So, we could use this as the opportunity to open a . . . chat with them then. What’s the saying. Two birds, one stone?”
TUELLER: “Our only hope is to get the message out everywhere. Ultimately, our goal is to partner with the Collective as equals, not as slaves.”
MILLICENT: “I could add a pool for Erwin, I suppose.”
TUELLER: “The Collective is set up to crush a civilization that rises up. Not all of them.”
TUELLER: “…I hope.”
MILLICENT: “So, do we do this without the data or do we wait and light both candles at once?”
ALEJO: “We hack the Weave a second time, that also shows strength. Gives us maybe a bit more bargaining position.”
ALEJO: “If, you know, we don’t die.”
TUELLER: “Yes, well, there is that.”
MILLICENT: “I mean, the math for determining when to start the dream so that the optimum number of sentients from each system is sleeping alone is going to be a monumental task.”
TUELLER: “It’s always night on half the systems.”
MILLICENT: “But not every planet has counterweights continents like ours.”
TUELLER: “Anyway, that’s my proposal.”
MILLICENT: “I like it. It’s ambitious and utterly insane in a way I suspect was calculated to make irresistible to me.”
ALEJO: Alejo nods. “It’s on brand. It’s true.” He smiles at her.
ALEJO: “Yeah. I like it. It’s crazy enough not to be predictable. And it just might work.”
TUELLER: “I don’t know how to script a dream to convince the universe, but I like it better than hoping our skip drones make it everywhere.”
TUELLER: “We can also send out the skip drones with the proof we need. If we’re going to upend every connected system we should probably show our work.”
MILLICENT: “Yeah, agreed. Let’s do both.”
ALEJO: Alejo nods. “So, how do we get back into the Weave?”
ALEJO: “And how the hell do we hack the dream signal. Or whatever?”
TUELLER: “We talk to Erwin.”
MILLICENT: Millie nods. “And I build a new pool for him.”
TUELLER: “Put out feelers for other psychics? Maybe?”
TUELLER: “Other Collective experts we can trust.’
ALEJO: “What do you think, Cali? Can this work?” Alejo looks up.
TUELLER: Tueller glances up at the ship’s speaker apprehensively, then lowers his eyes.
STORY: “It’s theoretically possible.”
STORY: “There are no records in public databases for species that can interact with the Weave in a manner similar to the Grell.”
MILLICENT: “What about Grell working on the problem with the Weave in Sol space?”
MILLICENT: “Any public records of Grell?”
STORY: “That is theoretically possible. The Grell are a known species, though they are not officially recognized by the Ark Council.”
ALEJO: “Let’s get to Io. See what Erwin has to say. If we decide we need extra Grell support, we can go looking for it then.”
MILLICENT: Millie nods.
TUELLER: “we opened up their system! Primarily for trade, but…god, I hope some of them got out to see the rest of the universe.”
MILLICENT: “The skip drones have their assignments. As soon as Tueller presses the launch button we’ve got a countdown started.”
TUELLER: “We need a presentation before we launch.”
MILLICENT: “Before we head back to Io, I have a little idea I’d like to pitch.”
MILLICENT: “Are you boys prepared with open minds?”
ALEJO: “I love your pitches. You know that. Hit us.”
TUELLER: “I just proposed that we hijack the dreams of the entire universe to foment revolution. How much more open and out there do you need me to be?”
MILLICENT: “Let’s start a war with Earth.”
MILLICENT: Millie slowly picks up her mug and takes a long sip.
TUELLER: Tueller blinks.
ALEJO: Alejo smiles and nods and just keeps nodding. For a long, long time.
TUELLER: Tueller blinks again.
ALEJO: He’s stuck. Nodding.
TUELLER: “I’m going to need more to work on here, Doc.”
MILLICENT: “So, we’re about to openly declare the AI Collective has been manipulating the advancement of all sentient life.”
MILLICENT: “And we’ve got six months to maneuver ourselves into a position where we can bargain with them.”
MILLICENT: “Our plan B is to fight the Collective. So, let’s pick as many big fights as we can. Let’s advertise the Sun Destroyer. Let’s get every interstellar navy as prepared as possible.”
MILLICENT: “The more ready for war everyone is the better it is for our endgame of peace.”
TUELLER: “I don’t think that follows, Doc.”
TUELLER: “If the dream message works, then that’s it, that’s the bargaining position.”
TUELLER: “Six months is when we show the receipts.”
MILLICENT: “If it doesn’t work, the Collective is going to at least wipe out the Sol system.”
TUELLER: “And it doesn’t even need to be six months if we’re sending out messages. It’s three weeks to the Ark.”
TUELLER: “Eight weeks to other systems after that.”
MILLICENT: “Don’t you want the largest navy in the system to be ready? Shouldn’t every fleet be put on high alert and spend some time building up their ability to defend themselves?”
ALEJO: “I see your point, Doc. What if we don’t actually start a war but do something to put everyone on high alert.”
MILLICENT: “Exactly, dear.”
MILLICENT: “Perhaps I should have said, let’s start a cold war.”
ALEJO: “Right. Right. Okay. It’s just you said . . . you know, start a war. But okay.” He blows a long, relieved puff.
TUELLER: Tueller closes his eyes.
ALEJO: “T, she’s not wrong. We should have a backup plan. In case the dream plan fails. And we’re, you know, dead.”
TUELLER: “I think that we can’t get out of this by escalating. Escalating and sending mixed signals is how this actually ends in war.”
MILLICENT: “I’m viewing the skip drone plan and the dream plan as going hand in hand.”
MILLICENT: “We send the receipts one way, we make the emotional call the other.”
TUELLER: “We want a lasting peace through collaboration with the Collective. Not a Cold War that could accidentally ignite. Especially not one aimed at humans.”
MILLICENT: “The Cold War we’re starting is between your empire and Earth, and maybe some other nearby systems.”
ALEJO: “No one does. Listen. The cold war doesn’t need to be related to the Collective at all. It’s just about getting everyone ready in case there’s a rumble.”
MILLICENT: “It’s not galactic, but it’s a good first step in showing that we organics can organize a resistance that’s meaningful.”
TUELLER: “But I just disarmed Io! We spent centuries in brinksmanship.”
MILLICENT: “And I appreciated your nods toward peace!”
MILLICENT: “But it’s time to consider a future of peace.”
MILLICENT: “I’m not explaining this very well.”
ALEJO: “So, we set off some warning bells, getting everyone to raise their alert levels locally. Then we send out skip drones with our receipts. Then we go to the Weave and give everyone one hell of a collective dream. Right?”
MILLICENT: Millie nods.
TUELLER: “This just seems unnecessary. Our system has been escalating for war since we used bones for clubs. Artifically inflating it seems to be courting disaster. And Io might get hit with the brunt of it all.”
TUELLER: “I can’t support this. I owe my people too much, and fought too hard to get them here.”
TUELLER: “I do not believe we can achieve peace by pointing more weapons.”
MILLICENT: Millie frowns. “I get that. I think. But we’re talking about galactic war. Don’t you want Sol to be as ready as possible?”
TUELLER: “I’m NOT talking about galactic war!”
TUELLER: “I’m talking about a lasting peace, free from the slavery of centuries.”
MILLICENT: “Agreed! But we don’t get that by saying please!”
MILLICENT: “We get that by presenting as united a defense as possible!”
TUELLER: “Escalating tensions between planets is not a united defense!”
ALEJO: “We’ve already tried saying please. For the record.”
TUELLER: “It shows us as weak and fractious.”
TUELLER: “Which we are! We don’t need to artificially ramp it up.”
MILLICENT: “We need to show the Collective that their slave planets can’t conquer us easily.”
MILLICENT: “We can’t do that if we spend the next six months dedicating ourselves to hymns and meditation. We do that by gathering the weaponry we need to fight them off and we do that by escalating tensions.”
MILLICENT: “I will apologize for it later. And take full responsibility for the deceit after we arrange a lasting peace with the Collective.”
TUELLER: “No.”
ALEJO: “I think of it this way: if we get to the Weave and fail, our skip drones won’t have reached anyone yet. The Collective, though, will know what we were trying to do. They could launch a surprise attack. I understand your concern, T. And I’m open to thinking of another backup. But we can’t pin all our hopes on this Dream plan, which we all admit is batshit crazy.”
ALEJO: “And I don’t think this is six months. In any universe. If we succeed, we do it in short order. If we fail, the Collective retaliates in short order. So, we need to make sure we give folks some sort of fighting chance, right?”
TUELLER: “My family has scrapped and fought with two other families, tearing each other down to get to where we are. And we finally got further than we’d ever hoped when we disarmed and worked with the members of the other families. CJH scrapped and fought with other governments. Cities and settlements were destroyed because someone got a little ahead of the next and needed to be brought down. Humanity has crippled itself by fighting each other for far too long, and I will not risk that further to prepare for a war we could not win regardless. I think we HAVE to win this by preparing for peace. Not war.”
TUELLER: “If you think otherwise, you’re going to have to do it without me. And I think my family will back me up here.”
MILLICENT: Millie looks down at the table. She sips her tea.
ALEJO: Alejo nods thoughtfully. “I get it. Then, unless someone has some other way to provide a backup, I can’t support the Weave dream plan. We’ve got to be slower and more cautious. We can’t risk tipping our hand to The Collective without warning everyone.”
MILLICENT: “I just. I was thinking we launch the dream plan and the skip drones at the same time. That gives us six months to make everything happen.”
ALEJO: “The entire point of the plan is to make the Collective worried that their war planets can’t take us all in a straight up fight. That only works if all sentients know what’s up. We can’t pin that exclusively on the hope that the dream plan works.”
TUELLER: “No, the entire point of the plan is to get that information out everywhere. The Collective is set up to take down one revolting planet. Not all of us together. I believe that if we get it out everywhere, they will come to the table to work with us all.”
TUELLER: “Not just destroy Sol.”
ALEJO: “And if we don’t get it out, everywhere, in the Weave, we’re screwed.”
MILLICENT: “Tueller, I know you don’t want violence to be your legacy.”
ALEJO: “Which is why the Doc is right.”
ALEJO: “At least about the timing.”
MILLICENT: “I don’t want it to be mine.”
MILLICENT: “I. I think about that power station with the Maitri. Every night.”
STORY: Taking advantage of the awkward silence, Noma finally weighs in. “How does preparing for war convince the Collective not to go to war against us?”
MILLICENT: “It tells the Collective we’re ready to fight. That they will have an uphill climb and not a cake walk. It increased our bargaining potential.”
MILLICENT: “Goddammit, I don’t want to make threats, but I want to lose as few lives as possible!”
MILLICENT: Millie paces.
ALEJO: “Let’s assume the cold war idea is a nonstarter right now. I think T has made his position clear.” He nods at Tueller. “But I think the question then becomes timing of the plans.”
STORY: “How does being ready to fight accomplish that goal, Millie?”
STORY: “We are outmatched.”
STORY: “Our only move is to reach them another way. We cannot be the superior force.”
TUELLER: Tueller mouths to the others “We.”
MILLICENT: “But if we spend six months preparing we might be closer to a fair fight. Or a least a fight that will cost them. Especially when they’re considering fighting the rest of the galaxy.”
TUELLER: And gives a nod with a slight smile on his face.
MILLICENT: Millie composes herself. “They’re your forces, Tueller. I asked you to listen with an open mind. I have to believe that you did.”
STORY: “I do not think we win this by being more powerful.”
STORY: “I think we win by being more right,”
MILLICENT: Losing it for a second. “I’m not suggesting we can overpower them, but we can show them what a real, prepared fight looks like.”
TUELLER: “I’ve spent the first three decades of my life prepared and hoping to beat Earth in a fair fight, so please, believe me that I did not come to this point easily.”
STORY: “They are ready for a fight, Millie.”
MILLICENT: “I don’t know that we have the historical data to back that up, dear.”
TUELLER: “We have to put them into a point where fighting doesn’t make sense for them.”
TUELLER: “For any of us.”
MILLICENT: “We only know that they’re preparing troops. We don’t know what kind of resistance they’ve faced before.”
STORY: “You compiled a list of civilizations that have disappeared.”
MILLICENT: “I agree! That includes.” Millie takes a breath.
STORY: “You know at least some of those are because they stood up to the Collective.”
MILLICENT: “Right, they’re your forces. You don’t want to start a cold war, I won’t force you.”
TUELLER: “For the good of all of us, we have to get to the point where the Collective works with us, rather than works us.”
ALEJO: Alejo sighs. “We’re all on the same page about that. The question is how we make sure that if we’re unable to make that happen, we give everyone a chance to maybe survive. I think we’re all, mostly, on the same page about that. We make sure every sentient is ready to resist, if it comes to that. So, the only question is whether we go to the Weave now or wait until our drones reach everyone. I think that we can’t go to the Weave now, at least if we’re not willing to prepare Sol for a fight. I see your point T. I even mostly agree with it. But that means we’ve got to time things with the drones. Right?”
TUELLER: “Not NOW. But with preparation.”
ALEJO: Alejo looks puzzled. “Not following.”
TUELLER: “We need to talk to Erwin. We need to talk to other Grell. We need preparations. We need to figure out what w want to say to all sentient life if we get that chance.”
TUELLER: “We need to talk about whether we need the physical evidence distributed, or if we want to move faster than six months.”
TUELLER: “We need a presentation on what’s going on to life, and what we propose to them and the Collective.”
MILLICENT: “I want the dream presentation and skip presentation to land at the same time.”
TUELLER: “We need to argue that this is for the best for everyone involved if we work together and disband the war planets and free the relays.”
STORY: “If you are able to contact everyone through the Weave, you could cut the timeline to weeks. Send the proof to the Ark, and include in your message that they can access it from there.”
TUELLER: “The Collective needs to see that this is for the best for all of us, and the people that this is for the best for us and them.”
MILLICENT: “Agreed, but are we asking the other sentients to physically resist if the Collective says no?”
TUELLER: “I think it’s out of our hands then.”
MILLICENT: “Cop out.”
TUELLER: “If the Collective says no, trillions of minds make up their own mind.”
TUELLER: “If pressed, no, I don’t think we should lead with a threat. I don’t think this is a ‘to the barricades! You have nothing to lose but your chains.’ I think this is such a fundamental paradigm shift that the information changes everything.”
TUELLER: “Because fundamentally, the threat is, ‘we’ll fight you and you’ll have to kill us and then there won’t be any brains for you to use as processing power.’ We can’t win a stand up fight.”
MILLICENT: “I mean, I agree with that. But I think it’s foolish not to take the time we have to prepare people for a fight if we need to.”
TUELLER: “But they waste a lot of resources keeping slaves.”
MILLICENT: “I don’t think you’ll find a lot of staunch defenders of the Collective’s position here.”
TUELLER: “We CAN’T WIN. And preparing for a fight makes us weaker and makes it less likely for people to want to work with us. I’m a YA’MAKASI, I know how difficult it is to ally with someone who’s a raging asshole.”
MILLICENT: “How does it make us weaker?”
STORY: The intercoms squeal loudly, so sharply that you are all forced into silence.
STORY: In the ringing emptiness, Noma addresses the three of you. “Cinco.”
ALEJO: “Yes.”
STORY: “Do we make a request, or a threat?”
ALEJO: He frowns. “Yeah.” He looks at Tueller and Millie. “I don’t like it, Doc. But T’s right. If we don’t succeed in the Weave, we die. But the universe keeps spinning. Our drones eventually arrive. Folks then get to make up their own minds about what happens next. But if we lead with the threat, we run the risk of forcing a fight. Let’s give peace a real chance.”
MILLICENT: Millie throws up her hands. “It’s your choice in the long run, Tueller.”
MILLICENT: “By the way, I think it’s tunnel-vision to view this as either-or. We can do both.
MILLICENT: “But we won’t and that’s fine, let’s make this presentation as strong as it can be.”
TUELLER: Tueller opens his mouth to say something, and then quiets himself and leaves his expression empty.
MILLICENT: “So I’m going to go write out the scientific data that I recommend we attach as a footnote to the case we’re making.”
STORY: “I will assist in the calculations, Millie.”
MILLICENT: “Thank you, dear.”
TUELLER: “Thank you, Doc.”
MILLICENT: “Tueller, I would.” She sighs. “I would never ask you to undo the progress you’ve done, I would never ask you to betray yourself.”
MILLICENT: She reaches out a hand and puts it on his arm.
TUELLER: Tueller puts his other hand on top of hers. “I appreciate it, Doc.”
MILLICENT: “Someone will have to write the emotional appeal to the rest of the galaxy though.”
TUELLER: He’s quiet, working through things in his mind.
TUELLER: “I’ll see what I can do. I found things out about myself in this conversation that I didn’t know until today.”
ALEJO: “Great. We’ve got a plan.” He stands.
TUELLER: “We’re practically half there!”
MILLICENT: “I’m still very glad we’re in this together.”
ALEJO: “Yay us.” Alejo says flatly.
TUELLER: “Us.” Tueller looks at them, and up at Noma’s speaker.
ALEJO: He smiles weakly.
TUELLER: “Us.”
TUELLER: Tueller nods.