.png){kind=link}
Beyond Hope
- Chapter 7 - Fortuitous Meetings[]
<<Previous Chapter - Return to Story Index - Next Chapter>>
Sorting out Political Solutions[]
Spider Moon, Private Dinning Room
Kowloon System, Federated Commonwealth
3053
"...so anyway, the match is nearing the final three minutes of the round, and Henry's been keeping this big brute of a guy following him like an overweight dreadhundt..totally pissing some of the observers and judges off, because they're there to see teen boys pound the hell out of each other for points…He sidesteps, big 'un throws a punch with an arm as big as my leg…my brother ducked, came up, smooth uppercut and a foot-sweep, drops the Heinie bastard right on the damn moment the BELL rang!!" Elizabeth Ngo was speaking of the dead at lunch-a favored brother, and a boxing match she'd attended when their parents did not.
"So what happened?" Helena Cameron asked
"Collins, the judge from Sanglamore, docked Hank points because his opponent's other shoulder didn't hit the mat before the bell ended the round. It was total bullshit and my bro, he won that match…but they gave him second place."
"Seems unfair."
"No, 'unfair' is that I'd be off finishing high school if they hadn't extended Pat's tour past his post-Academy five." She said, "HE would be the Duke of Kowloon, like Grandpapa taught him to be, and I could go be…anything but a duchess." she laughed.
“Yeah. I was the spare to the spare. Yet I learned many things because I was suddenly the First Lord.”
"Spare to the spare, to the Heir, we'll still get you there, hey?" out in public, Elizabeth was Jovial, smiling, laughing. Everything the serious creature in the Archive wasn't and could never be.
Helena only had to pause and collect herself twice as they moved through the busier parts of the base to the canteen.
Strains of instrumental music flickered into and out of being as personnel entered or left the Canteen.
.png){kind=link}
Jacob Irons Fletcher
"It's called the…'Oaken Cudgel?'?" Fletcher asked.
"Pun on the English 'O-Club'...also a warning about getting too drunk, one of Grandfather or Mister Cartwright's jokes."
Helena visibly readied herself before entering.
Three or four spacers in the main room with the barman, a short corridor off the bar marked "The heads" and another marked "Private booths".
"Light?"
"Light." Elizabeth nodded, "Which is what happens when the Duchess is on-post, if there's anything that makes troops avoid public spaces, it's the risk of being spot-checked by brass…or that's what Pat told me in a letter from Tamar."
“I can handle this. This is fine.” Helena sounded as if she was more reassuring herself than Elizabeth.
Elizabeth angled them to a corner booth with a privacy screen, and summoned the Steward, with a bottle of reddish-brown and a tray of shot glasses.
"Aren't you a little…" Helena began to ask.
"Young? I can reach the bar when I stand on my tippy toes, and unlike any of you, nobody's going to ask me to drive." Liz commented.
“It still mars the brain at your age.” Fletcher said.
She shrugged, "In Atmo, on a planet? I smoke enough dope to drop an armorbear just to be normal, it's not the brain I gots to worry about, it's my delicate little liver."
“She’s the Duchess here. We’re her guests. We shouldn’t pronounce judgment. And I apologize. Normally I am not so sensitive but it is a new environment for me so I seem to be more sensitive to my triggers than normal.” Helena offered.
"You're all my guests." Elizabeth said, "Speak free, if I'm offended, I'll tell you so, besides, as a Teenaged Lord, there's a certain expectation I have to fill, you know, and I don't like going without undewear, so booze and drugs is it."
“My sister is still in that phase in her own way. I think that is how she is reacting to how Amaris treated her. She is super forward and sexual.”
"Helena, let me be as indiscreet and crude as possible for a moment…" Elizabeth said, "...according to the journal, your sister likes Girls, that's not 'damage' that's 'this is what she likes', and that's fine."
“Well, that’s what I mean. I’m not sure she cares as long it has a pulse and two legs and she can have that kind of fun with it now.”
"By the Book of my Big Brother Patrick…" Elizabeth Ngo rolled her eyes like a preacher, "and thus, in the Service, They what has TWO X-Chromosomes and are of Officer grade are presented with a choice!" she poured two glasses. "Choice one…per my brother, and confirmed by his Fiancee, whom is my current heir? Is to be a Battleaxe, the second…" she filled the second shot glass, "is to be viewed as a slut, and lo, they both say this dichotomy, this Two Sided stereotype, goes back to the era when people were stabbing each other with bronze knives."
“And really I think it was the math that Sithers was putting into the navcom that was getting Elizabeth horny.” Fletcher offered.
"Sithers…Linda Sithers? The Seether?" Elizabeth asked, "I actually KNOW her…she dated Pat in high school. She dumped him for the team captain of the ladies Futbol team before heading back up to live with her cousins on Sithers-Deen 41."
“She was the leader of the boarding party. Egads. I think you both might be right. My sister might have just been hot for her dream girl. A perfect combination of jock and nerd.” Helena stuck out her tongue in mock disgust.
"Given the rumours, your sister could've had a go at her for the price of two black-and-tans and an evening movie…of course, those rumours are false."
"Oh?"
"Sithers plays bi, but she's straight. It didn't work out with Cyndi, ergo, back up to the belts."
“And you’re probably also partially right Helena. I hate to say it but one of the classic responses to sexual abuse is to become very promiscious and with what she is now…”
"Creature of pure intellect" Liz observed.
"What?" Jacob looked at her.
"She's a creature of pure intellect, no glands, no soft squishy nerve endings or weird chemicals in her brain anymore, ergo, for all WE know, she gets a sexual high off really good conversation…or really well done complex calculus-no endorphine receptors or endorphins or Dopamine."
“And as such the physical act is no big deal for her. It’d be like shaking someone’s hand.”
"Bingo. I bet you can piss her off with crap poetry or bad music though…can't ya?"
“Yeah. Poetry night got banned real fast after Rachel tried it drunk.” Helena giggled.
"How's her prose?" Elizabeth asked.
"Prose?"
"She's a Hattah." Elizabeth said, "Most of the winners for the annual competitions out here, the story competitions? Are Hatters, something about living that deep in a hole results in some fantastic works of imagination…or it could be the chemical dust from the mines."
“Huh, well maybe we should get her to try again sober then.” Helena smiled.
Recounted the horrors of days gone past[]
Doctor of Psychiatric Medicine - Rhonda Lowenstein’s Office
Coast Guard Station Spider Moon
Kowloon System, Federated Commonwealth
12th July, 3053
“Give it to me straight, Doc Lowenstien, you’ve interviewed them all now. I would be stupid to not get a professional’s read on them.” Elizabeth Ngo prompted.
“I know and in this context Doctor Patient Confidentiality cannot exist. Helena has regressed badly from what I can gather. This is not unexpected. Her support structures have largely been torn away whether she realizes it or not. I think she’ll make progress again soon enough.” Lowenstien stated.
“There’s more.” Elizabeth sensed it.
“Something they all have in common. They’re using your proposal as something of a barrier or crutch to help keep them from having to face their trauma at their new found isolation directly.”
“Even the AI?” Liz questioned
“Yeah. The AI too. She passes every test I can throw at her. It doesn’t matter if she’s just really sophisticated computer code and hyper advanced hardware to carry it out. The only reason I was able to tell I was talking to an AI not a real person is because some of the relays had trouble during our interview and even then the delay times because of the orbital distance gave a clue too.”
“Then I have one more talk before returning home.” Liz commented
Unreasonable Options[]
SLS Elizabeth Cameron, CIC
“This could get confusing. How about I start going by my middle name, Jane?” Elizabeth Cameron greeted her newest guest.
“Okay, Jane. First off, thank you for letting me aboard. Impressive setup you have here.” Elizabeth Ngo said.
“Thank you. It serves us well.”
“I just have one technical question for you. How well can you operate away from this ship?” young duchess asked
“Amaris spared no expense and no effort in my remote to make it as capable for his entertainment as possible. So it allows me to experience a great deal and can carry more of my personality than other models, but really I’d probably be about as useful as one of the really good, high end Dustball specials.”
“InfoNets?” Liz questioned
“InfoNets. Some portions make you question if humanity is worth saving and then bam, cute cat video that makes you forget all about it.”
“My favorites are some of the videos done by a bunch of our vets that make fun of horror movies.” Liz commented
“Yeah those are good too, but I should bring us back on topic. You’re trying to figure out how best to resolve how to best accommodate me without wrecking one of my sister’s last few coping mechanisms.”
“Yeah. This would be a lot easier if I didn’t have to play a shell game with a Warship.” Liz explained
“Our options then seem to be one: Remove my core from the Warship. This could prove problematic as this is no small feat and would render this Warship useless as well as my core would not be easy to move around to stay with Helena in a meaningful way.” Jane said.
“When put like that makes it pretty much a non-starter.” Liz stated.
“Two: You’re hoping my remote has enough autonomy that it would provide the support mechanism my sister needs while my hull is tucked away in your so called ‘shell game’. Maybe? I’m not sure. I’ve always been no more than about half a second of delay away from it which allows me to run it with full capacity but half a second is about the most that can be tolerated as that makes my reaction times slower than a typical soldier in a combat situation.” Jane stated.
“Even with the sails you’d be spotted by somebody that close to Kowloon.” Liz commented.
“And you need Helena to be able to travel.” Jane said.
“I do.” Liz acknowledged
“Then I know what I need to do. It’s okay. It won’t be perfect but it’ll be enough I think.” Jane commented
“How bad is it?” Liz questioned.
“Don’t ask it to run hyperspace calculus, plot naval gunfire, or anything really heavy like that. It’ll also need memory cleared out about every three months. Six if you really need it to push its limits and don’t mind if it starts getting a bit sluggish in responding.”
“I wish there were a better way.”
“So do I but this is the hand we have currently. Oh how long it lasts before it needs charging depends on usage. A typical cycle for me currently is 12 on charger 12 performing tasks. We’ll have to see what can actually be maintained. There isn’t exactly a standard service manual for my remote.”
“You’re sure about this?”
“Our options are limited. This is the most feasible of them all.”
“I’ll do what I can to keep her around Spider Moon as much as I can at least so that it doesn’t have to be completely cut off from your relays all the time.”
“I know you will because the three of us all have one thing in common. We were all forced to grow up too fast. The journey may have been different but the destination is without a doubt the same.”
“You’ve been reading my files.”
“I am an AI and while your wrappings around my hull make it difficult at times I do have little else to do and fair is fair. You’ve been reading ours and having a shrink interview us. But this too gives us common ground I think. So in the interests of future good relations I won’t share anything you don’t want shared. I’ll ask first.” Jane told Liz
Elizabeth hesitated.
"What is it?" Jane asked.
"This is temporary." Elizabeth said. "It has to be, Jane. It's not right that you have to hide. Once I've secured things, I'll try to make it so you never have to hide again."
"Don't make promises like that!" the AI scolded, "Don't make promises unless you Know you can do it! If you're going to make a promise? Promise you'll do your best, don't try to guarantee a result until you know for sure you can deliver!"
"Helena." Liz realized. "She promised something and now she feels trapped." The girl straightened her shoulders in resolve, "I'll do my best to make sure you never have to hide again…I have to get back, there's a lot of preparations and work to be done."
"There are times when Lizzie is almost Too smart, and then she does something catastrophically ignorant and naive, and we all get the reminder that she's not some 'super-woman' despite all her efforts to look like one, to act like some kind of Vorgesetzte, the female equivalent of Nietzshe's Ubermensh in terms of will. Those of us who knew her as a girl, at boarding schools, or in the rehab clinic know better. Even as a little girl, she somehow internalized the idea that she MUST, that she HAS TO burn it at both ends, that one hundred percent would never be enough, and that neither would she…"
-Daniel Brewer, Heir to the Duke of Hesperus
Testimony before the Archon's Special Commission
3054