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canyouhearthelight · 4 years

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The Miys, Ch. 107

Happy Tuesday, time for a new chapter!

Writing author’s notes three weeks in advance is hard, I am realizing. However I am reasonably sure if I wait to write this note, I will forget, because Tuesdays are insane at work.

So, quickly: shout out to @baelpenrose for being my beta, as always. Also, thank you to @charlylimph-blog and @zommbiebro, for the characters in this chapter.

I hope you all enjoy!!

I had to admit, as I laughed at Charly’s face when she stole a bite of my food, that Huynh - and therefore Jokul - had a point about eating in the cafeteria/mess regularly. Today, I had taken a page out of his book, and decided on my lunch based on what someone else was eating that looked good when I walked in. No matter how the dish ended up being, the smile on the face of a random stranger when I stopped and told them their food looked good, along with asking if I could get some from the console, made my day.

Which was good, because it was the oddest fish pie I had ever eaten. In general, I neither hated nor loved fish pie - I needed to either have a request or a craving to make it, usually. However, when I originally saw it as I entered the mess, I saw flaky crust, meat, veggies, and a creamy sauce and called it a winner. I don’t think Charly was expecting seafood in general when she took a bite, and I certainly hadn’t been expecting scallops, even knowing I had gotten fish pie.

“That’s… that’s fish!” she sputtered, glaring at me in betrayal.

“It’s actually scallops,” I corrected, no less perplexed for that fact. “I was expecting mackerel and cod, or haddock. That’s what Conor always asks me to make, anyway.”

“But it’s fish,” she insisted. “I thought it would be chicken.”

“It’s not bad,” I admitted, taking another bite. “Just caught me off guard.”

Shaking her head and scowling, she got up to get her own food, returning with an actual chicken pot pie. Just as she was hooking her arm around it protectively - either protecting it from me or from my lunch, who knew - a pillar of grey and silver stalked up to the table before plopping down miserably.

Now holding her pie over her head - to avoid being flanked? - Charly stared down, eyes wide. “Mr. Bjornson?” she asked, bewildered.

Craning my neck, I realized she had a point, although the hair was somewhat dishevelled and the robes were wrinkled beyond anything I had seen him wearing previously. Not even Conor or I would wear clothes that creased, honestly. Hesitantly, I poked at him. “Did you just decide to die in front of my food?” I asked, skeptical. “Last time you interrupted my lunch, you were being kidnapped.”

Alarmingly, Jokul sat up, eyes red, sniffling back tears. “He won’t talk to me…”

Both Charly and I jerked back, surprised. Recovering faster, I carefully ventured a question. “You mean Ivan?”

Rather than answer out loud, Jokul gave a bigger sniff and nodded emphatically.

I was so not prepared to have this conversation, but I tried anyway. “Is everything… I guess, okay, for lack of a better term?”

“He works so much,” came the plaintive response. “He’s so tired all the time, and I’m trying to adjust to everyone looking at me funny and…” He stopped, tears rolling again, biting his lip in what looked like an effort to gain control.

“And?” Charly asked, setting her lunch down and carefully reaching to put a hand on his forearm.

“AndIdonthaveanyoneelsetotalktonowbecauseIrealizedIdontactuallyhaveany friennnnnnnds,” he blurted out quietly, the last part on a barely-constrained sob. I had to give him credit for trying to draw as little attention as possible while talking about something that was clearly a difficult subject.

“Oh, that’s bullshit,” Charly sighed softly, shaking her head. “Right, Sophia?”

I rocked my head a bit, thinking about it. “I mean…. I don’t know about friends, per se - “ Charly glared and kicked me hard enough to drive the breath out of me. “Hey! Cut me some slack?”

“I’m the one who got the punch,” she scolded, stroking his hair and carefully detangling it.

Fair. “Earning friendships may take some time,” I admitted. “But that doesn’t mean you can’t talk to anyone about what’s going on, you know.”

“Who, Councillor?” he demanded sadly. “Who do I have to talk to?”

“Well, you clearly thought I was a good idea - Ow, Charly!” Rubbing my shin, I continued. “Like I was saying, though. It kind of depends on what it is you want to talk about. If it’s struggling to come back from a negative public image… Simon, hands down, is the best person for that.”

Thankfully, Jokul went from looking despondent to confused. “Simon Rodriguez?”

Charly and I both nodded hard enough to pop our necks. “He was a complete ass when I boarded. I actually tried to kill him, and so did Tyche. He can tell you the details, but in the end, he made the effort to be a better neighbor, and now he’s an amazing educator whose students adore him.”

“Arthur Farro was a warlord, however,” Jokul tried to object. “Would he not be a better source of insight?”

“Absolutely not,” Charly responded before I could draw a breath, shooting the idea down instantly. “Mr. Farro doesn’t care what other people think of him, beyond making sure they aren’t trying to kill him too actively. He adheres to social etiquette in most cases, but it’s not for his own sake, more for the sake of those associated with him. Does he care if he’s trustworthy? Absolutely. Likeable…...” She winced as she trailed off, hand tipping in an ‘eh’ gesture.

“Which is why he wasn’t bothered in the least when you wanted a fight,” I pointed out, trying to draw the points together. “Whereas Simon didn’t realize how poorly people thought of him, and as soon as he did, he took steps to change it, even when it was hard. So definitely start there if you need guidance.”

“I will endeavor to do so,” Jokul nodded before his expression dropped again. “But what about Ivan?”

“There is nothing about him being tired that makes his ears malfunction,” I heard myself say. What? Why? Why was I doing this? “No matter how tired I am, my ear still works, and I can still listen to Conor and Maverick about their days. And sometimes that’s all that’s needed. Mutual bitching about a bad day is… pretty normal, actual.”

He sat up, paling, with a horrified expression on his face. “Oh dear gods, how do you manage two?!”

Charly and I traded glances of confusion before looking back at the distraught man who was slowly inching fingers toward my fish pie. I nodded to Charly, who wrinkled her nose and got up to grab him some food, while I addressed the former cult leader. “It’s usually easier than just one,” I confessed. “If one of us is too tired or sick, there’s always someone who can pinch hit.” I wasn’t about to admit that it was also made easier by the massive family I had acquired during my time on the Ark. That was the last thing he needed to hear. Softening slightly, I tilted my head and placed my hand on his arm. “Jokul, do you really not have any friends, anymore? What about… the ginger kid. I never got his name.”

“William,” Jokul spat with more force than I had seen since the day we met, catching me completely off guard. “A sycophant. He almost immediately asked what my plans were to continue forward with ‘our plans’.” The air quotes were a nice touch, but his face was nothing but sour. “I had to report him to Councillor Kalloe,” he confessed, face falling into a frown.

“Oh, wow,” I murmured. “Okay then. We need to figure out how you can meet other people, I think.” I was barely able to resist the urge to hit myself in the face. We? Why was this a we thing all of a sudden?

Thankfully, Charly came back, nose wrinkled at a second portion of fish pie. As Jokul dug into it, she perked up slightly. “The Undine! They have cultural events all the time! And! Andandandandand,” she started bouncing in her seat with each syllable. “Ivan loves those events. Not only does he drum up a lot of work, but he also loves meeting new people! You can do a date thing!”

That was, by far, the most harmless suggestion Charly could have made, and I made a mental note to send her a candy-basket at some point. “Plus, if Ivan is there, Zach and Hannah should be, too. You met them, right?”

“Did I?”

I managed not to roll my eyes as I reminded him. “The couple that were talking to Ivan the day you, um… met him?”

“Oh!” he exclaimed, sitting up straighter. “He mentioned they were friends of his!”

“Lord bless it,” I laughed. “Those two are probably his closest friends, honestly. So, something like that would be both a chance to make friends and something you can do with Ivan!” And something that does not require me to adopt someone who recently did his best to be a pain in my ass.

“And you said I can still just… talk, to Ivan, when he’s too tired to do anything else?”

“Yes?” I confirmed, slightly bewildered. “He still cares, I would think. Keep in mind, he does manual labor for a living, by choice. If he’s too tired to move, he is probably physically incapable of moving. It would be like Conor coming home, showering, and flopping on the couch. Good luck moving him, just grab him a pillow and blanket.”

Jokul arched an eyebrow at me, recovering something resembling his former ego. “I am quite capable of carrying Ivan to a proper bed, thank you.” His face abruptly softened. “I’m just new at… this…” he waved his hand vaguely. “Relationships, during a time of peace, I suppose.”

Huh. That never occurred to me, actually. “Hang on,” I thought out loud. “Have you had any portion of this conversation,” I frantically pointed between the three of us, “with Ivan?”

“Not.. yet?” came the sheepish response.

“Sir!” I sputtered. “If you do not go home right now - take your pie with you! - and talk to your poor…. Partner, boyfriend, whatever. If you don’t talk to Ivan, I will give Arthur permission to re-administer the ass-whooping and deal with Ivan later over it!”

Rather than being offended, Jokul seemed to take the admonishment for what it was, and dashed off. Charly, breathless with laughter, managed to recover just enough to give me the stink eye. “Did you just give solid advice to your adversary?”

“I won! Sort of,” I argued. “Besides, anyone that upset about a romantic relationship deserves some kind of slack, right?”

“Were you really going to sic Mr. Farro on him?”

I groaned, burying my head in my hands. “The less he knows about this entire interaction, the better. I’ll never hear the end of it.” And then, just as if my day could not possibly get any better, I heard a familiar, dry voice snark from behind me.

“The less I know about what the better?”

Oh, hell.

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#the miys #science fiction #humans are weird #found family #found family tropes #humans are space orcs #fiction #original fiction #earth is space australia #hfy #humans are space fae #humans baffle aliens #humans are crazy #movies #cuddles #popcorn

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nerdwithabirb · 4 years

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what your ssbu main says about you (not including dlc)

01. mario: you’re either a basic bitch or really old.

02. donkey kong: you like cheap movesets like grabs because then you don’t have to put in actual effort.

03. link: you’re a basic bitch with a love of elven/fantasy type characters.

04. samus: you either really like metroid, or you just think the mech suit looks neat.

04e. dark samus: see above. possibly going through a divorce.

05. yoshi: you might eat a lot.

06. kirby: see above.

07. fox: you’re either a fox main because of his laser gun, or you’re a furry.

08. pikachu: pikachu is the only pokémon you actually recognise.

09. luigi: you were the underdog growing up. probably a younger sibling.

10. ness: from the bottom of my heart, fuck you. i will never be able to unhear “PK FIRE!!” in that FUCKING voice.

11. captain falcon: i’ve never seen a captain falcon main who was familiar with f-zero, they just thought the falcon! punch! thing is cool.

12. jigglypuff: jjiggly is broken like genuinely broken (especially in ssb4), so you must REALLY like the character.

13. peach: you are probably someone’s non-gamer gf and only picked peach because she’s cute.

13e. daisy: you’re probably at least somewhat familiar with the mario series, but you also probably think that being a daisy main makes you “quirky” somehow.

14. bowser: see entry for donkey kong. spamming grab attacks is cheap as fuck. stop it.

15. ice climbers: another game that most of the mains are completely unfamiliar with. also, having to fight two characters at once is annoying as hell. you like to watch the world suffer.

16. sheik: you probably think maining sheik makes you “mysterious” even though she’s been in the series forever and anyone familiar with legend of zelda knows she’s just zelda in disguise. however, she has decent melee attacks, so credit where credit is due i suppose.

17. zelda: you like the ~magical girl~ aesthetic but think wicca is demonic.

18. dr. mario: if you actually know dr. mario, great. if not, you probably wanted a “quirky” version of mario.

19. pichu: pichu is literally just a more asshole version of pikachu. so you either know that and use it to your advantage, or you just think pichu is cute.

20. falco: you got bored of using fox.

21. marth: you have a thing for slightly androgynous swordfighters.

21e. lucina: androgynous wasn’t doing it for you.

22. young link: you miss link’s old moveset.

23. ganondorf: your tabletop game of choice is d&d and you’re probably the dungeon master most of the time.

24. mewtwo: you think mewtwo is as close to goku as smash can ever get.

25. roy: you have a thing for redheads.

25e. chrom: you have a thing for emo kids.

26. mr. game & watch: you probably don’t know what a game & watch is and just like the huge assortment of attacks.

27. meta knight: edgelord supreme. you were probably a goth kid at one point and might still be.

28. pit: you main pit because his flight ability gives you plenty of mercy when you inevitably get knocked off the stage.

28e. dark pit: you think dark pit is somehow better because he is wearing black.

29. zero suit samus: you pause the game to masturbate to her when you’re playing alone. we all know this.

30. wario: you laugh at fart jokes a lot.

31. snake: you probably own one or more of the following: gadsden flag, something with a punisher skull, one or more guns.

32. ike: see entry for marth.

33-35. pokémon trainer: you like to think you’re unpredictable, but end up doing one of the same few things.

36. diddy kong: you’re one of the rare few who actually knows how the fuck to use diddy. please show me your ways.

37. lucas: like ness, but worse. fuck you but even more.

38. sonic: you’re a hardcore sonic fan and probably fall off the stage a lot. you might be one of the weirdos who lewd him.

39. king dedede: you’re annoying as hell and like to get in people’s way.

40. olimar/alph: you like to piss off as many people at once as you possibly can and just slowly sap away their will to live.

41. lucario: you’re either a hardcore pokémon fan, or you think the idea of a ninja fox dog looking thing is sensual.

42. r.o.b.: lol does anyone main r.o.b.? if you do, you probably have a massive retro game collection and i salute you for that.

43. toon link: you either like wind waker, or you just enjoy the cutesy aesthetic.

44. wolf: like the fox mains, but edgier. probably kind of a dick in real life.

45. villager: you were the kid who chased everyone around and perpetuated the cheese touch/cooties/etc. on the playground.

46. mega man: you are either insanely cool, or you like little boys. no in between.

47. wii fit trainer: you started to main him/her (depending on alt costume) as a joke, but it just grew on you. you’re probably a health nut.

48. rosalina and luma: you totally bought into the galaxy hair trend.

49. little mac: you like to convince people to play punchies.

50. greninja: you make up a lot of bullshit excuses to get out of things.

51-53. mii fighters: you either started using them for shits and giggles and have several miis of celebs and characters, or you’re so self-centred that you jumped on the opportunity to be in a game that wasn’t called “wii _____.”

54. palutena: you’re horny for witchy girls. that, or you started as a zelda main and then graduated, so to speak.

55. pac-man: you like minimalist interior design and probably have an oral fixation.

56. robin: you are, or were, a potterhead.

57. shulk: you probably just think his weapon is neat, admit it.

58. bowser jr.: you’re a HUGE nintendo fan, and can probably name all of the koopalings by heart. (so basically me in fourth grade, lol)

59. duck hunt: you like to fight dirty and then laugh in the face of your opponent after you use cheap tactics, both in and out of smash.

60. ryu: if you ever played street fighter, he was always your main. you’re probably a real ride or die type of person.

60e. ken: you think ryu is too mainstream.

61. cloud: you really like jrpgs.

62. corrin: again with the being horny for the same sort of character.

63. bayonetta: you either are a big tiddy goth gf, or you’re a slobby neckbeard with no hope of getting a big tiddy goth gf.

64. inkling: you probably took up painting as a hobby at least once.

65. ridley: you think dragons are awesome. sadly, ridley kinda sucks in smash.

66. simon: you’re either a deus vult sort of racist, or you have a bdsm kink.

66e. richter: you most probably have a bdsm kink and are very likely to be ex-religious. you probably still reference god in everyday speech because it’s hard to stop doing that (“oh my god,” “i swear to god,” etc.).

67. king k. rool: you laugh at “expand dong” in 2020.

68. isabelle: you enjoy cheap fighting tactics, but also the kawaii aesthetic.

69 (nice). incineroar: you’re a hardcore pokémon fan. shame that incineroar kinda sucks as a fighter.

#ssbu #smash ultimate #shitpost #mad dog is bored

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gman-003 · 7 years

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From the Archives: The Nintendo Niino and Super Smash Bros. N

I have a rather large folder of ideas I'd come up with, liked enough to bother recording, but didn't or couldn't actually pursue. Some of them are worth looking at again, particularly when intervening events cast it in a new light. (And if this post is received well, it might become a regular feature.)

In this case, it's an idea for a Nintendo console, which turned out to be surprisingly similar to the Switch, even though, with a timestamp of September 27, 2014, it predates any public knowledge of the Switch, and possibly even predates the Switch development project. While I rewrote it into a more readable format, I have not changed any of the actual details - preserving the state of the idea as it was when I conceived it. It's not a detailed plan, more an executive-summary proposal.

2014 was a lackluster year for Nintendo - sales were plummeting, the Wii U had fizzled, and the New 3DS was flailing. Even fans could tell the company was struggling.

I made a key insight, though I don't claim it was a unique one: the gaming console market is under pressure from two directions. Going back to the 90s, the cheaper handheld consoles served as the entry point for new gamers, with home consoles offering a superior experience at higher cost, and gaming PCs being yet more expensive. But the rise of smartphones has devoured the low end - an iPhone or Galaxy or Nexus is an objectively worse gaming platform than any handheld console, but since they're essentially free as gaming devices (since consumers will be buying a smartphone anyways for communication), they offer the cheapest entry point. The rise of cheap gaming PC hardware (itself an effect of slowing desktop sales) has pressured the high end, driving home consoles to lower price points. This prediction turned out to be fairly true, although I also thought "nanoconsoles" like the Ouya would contribute to the demise of the two-tier console market, which completely failed to happen.

The logical conclusion was that handheld and home consoles will need to merge or displace each other. Sony simply gave up on their portable line, focusing their in-house developers on the home console. Nintendo could easily have given up on their home console line, throw everything onto the 3DS or its successor, and hope to compete with Sony and Microsoft on the merits of portability and game design rather than technical specifications.

But that's only the obvious way to do things. There are problems with that approach - Nintendo has a much longer history than Sony of maintaining both form factors, and there are many Nintendo fans who would be angered if Nintendo chose to abandon one or the other. A non-obvious solution is needed - and a non-obvious solution is what we got, with the Switch. But let's take a look at the idea I came up with, because it took a third approach.

The console I came up with was to be named the "Niino", punning off "Nintendo", "Nano", and the double-i pattern used in the Wii, Mii and Amiibo. The name is kind of dorky, I'll admit, but it's better than "Wii" and that thing sold like hotcakes.

The core principle was that you couldn't make a handheld that worked as a home console as well as a dedicated home console would, and vice versa. The two need to be fully software-compatible, but even just making an ergonomic controller fights against being able to put it in your pocket. So I didn't go as far as Nintendo ultimately chose to - I still had different hardware for home and handheld use. But they were to be different SKUs of the same console, not separate consoles - all games would run on both, down to using the same cartridges.

I called the two versions the "Niino Home" and "Niino Pocket". I specified that both were to use the same architecture. An eight-core ARM-64 CPU was specified - either K12 or Denver, depending on whether AMD or Nvidia was offering a better deal. I further specified a fully-unified memory architecture, with 16GB of GDDR6 memory. (I will note that I also wrote that it would be released in 2020, so my use of stuff that doesn't even exist three years later isn't completely groundless). Games would be stored on internal flash memory (512GB on the Home, 128GB on the Pocket), or on removable cartridges. As a minor twist, the cartridges would be partially-writable - patches would get downloaded and stored, and your game saves would be on the cartridge itself, in a special R/W memory segment.

The Niino Pocket was spec'd with a 4.5" 1920x1080 screen, featuring capacitive touchscreen capabilities (aka multitouch). The Niino Home was specified to target 3840x2160 output resolution (fed over Mini-DisplayPort or HDMI), with an expectation that it would normally downscale to 1920x1080 (getting some free antialiasing in the process). To give the Home enough processing horsepower to render the same game at quadruple resolution, I gave it twice as many GPU compute units, running at twice the clockspeed, and bumped the CPU clocks up by 50% (while keeping the CPU core count the same). That math checks out if the CPU on the Pocket spends 25% of its time on controlling the GPU, and game logic does not scale with resolution which are generally reasonable assumptions.

For controls, I didn't do much unusual. Two analog sticks - full thumbsticks on the Home controllers, smaller PSP-style "nubs" on the Pocket. A D-Pad. Four main face buttons, presumably A/B/X/Y. Four secondary face buttons, two per side - Plus, Minus, Home and Share. I had two analog triggers, with a digital "click" at full travel, like the Gamecube did, as well as two bumpers. And to finish it off, I listed dual accelerometers - they aren't all that useful, but they're so cheap now, why not include them?

Games would be required to run well on both the Pocket and Home, as part of certification. Thanks to the identical architecture, OS, and even screen aspect ratio, the programming to support both would be minimal. Assets could be authored for the Home, and downscaled for the Pocket, or authored for the Pocket and simply reused, not taking advantage of the extra power. Some UI elements might need to be redesigned to work better on the Niino Pocket's physically smaller screen, or more particles might spawn on the more powerful Niino Home, but I was aiming for it to be easier than developing a smartphone app that runs well on multiple screen sizes. I even mandated that the cartridges themselves be the same - if you for some reason buy both a Home and a Pocket, you would still only buy the game once, and play it on both. With savefiles being stored on the cartridge itself, that could be a very useful way to play - almost as seamless as the Switch ended up being, although significantly more expensive if you want that capability.

That unified architecture would allow Nintendo to stop splitting their development resources across two consoles, which would in turn allow Nintendo to develop a more robust library of first-party games. As Nintendo would offer the only viable handheld console, it would make them a more attractive target for third-party devs.

But Nintendo consoles sell because of Nintendo games, so that's what I had plenty of. I listed two pack-in titles, four additional launch games, another four titles within the first year, and five in the second year, as well as as many third-party titles as possible. My third-parties list is amusing from today's viewpoint - I correctly predicted that there would still be annual Call of Duty, Assassin's Creed, and Monster Hunter titles, but I seriously missed the mark by listing "Sonic Boom 3".

The Niino would have two pack-in titles. Nintendo Sports was supposed to be a deeper follow-up to Wii Sports, adding campaign modes, character customization and even some map-making (on the Golf game). But that was really just there for the sake of having a "complete" pack-in game. In retrospect, this was a horrible idea - it would either miss entirely what made Wii Sports a system-seller, or would require compatibility with Wiimotes, which makes it a horrible way to show off the new system.

The other pack-in game was "Super Smash Bros. N", which was a free-to-play Smash... kind of. The pack-in version would include only a minimum of characters, items, and levels (I listed Mario, Link, Donkey Kong and Pikachu, along with a Mii-based custom fighter). But any Niino game could add more - first-party or third-party. That game's developers would be responsible for all the assets and initial programming, although balance patches would come from Nintendo's Smash team, and certification would make sure it worked right and at least came close to being balanced.

So when you bought the obligatory Mario launch title, you automatically get (for example) Peach and Luigi, along with a stage and some items, added to Smash. Spla2oon (I am still surprised that's not what Nintendo's actually calling it) would add Inkling. Metroid: Paralysis would add Samus (don't ask for details on the games themselves, I was just making up titles and one-sentence concepts). Call of Duty would presumably add one of the Captains Price. Even Virtual Console games could get in on it - some people would totally spend another $15 to buy Final Fantasy VI again if it gave you a Terra assist trophy (I think full playable characters are too much to expect for a VC game).

As additional ways to get that content (it is kind of scummy to lock it behind a game you may not want, if you're just a hardcore Smash player), they could also be sold separately, as normal DLC, or bundled with an Amiibo, assuming those continue to sell.

I really, really like this idea. It solves two problems with the Smash series - first, it makes it possible for characters from games released after Smash to appear in the current version, instead of waiting for the next console, and second, it allows the game to eventually have the kind of mammoth size that made Brawl such a wonder. I remember the Brawl spoiler season - the hype was unimaginable. Just when you thought they were done, they dropped more on you. And it will even have more good effects - it acts as a portal to game discovery, and gives a bump to the Niino version of multiplatform games. If you're playing Smash, either at a party or online, and you encounter a character you've never seen before, that might spark an interest in the game they came from. And if you're a hardcore shooter player looking at which new console to buy, maybe the free Smash characters would be enough to tip you towards the Nintendo platform.

Would the Niino have been a better console than the Switch? Maybe. It probably wouldn't have sold as well, because the messaging would be more complicated. And is one do-it-all console better than two single-purpose consoles that do their job better? That would depend on how much better the specialized hardware works, which could only be determined by actually building the things.

Would Super Smash Bros. N have worked well as a system-seller? I think it would, although it would require a permanent support team at Nintendo, something they don't seem to do. It might anger the hardcore Smash fans at first, but it would make for an overall larger game (for free!), and half of them are still playing Melee anyways.

What are your thoughts?

#nintendo #game consoles #from the archives

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canyouhearthelight · 4 years

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The Miys, Ch. 66

I am happy to report that this chapter has been beta’d, by @satan-parisienne. They didn’t tell me about any content I should tag, but if I missed something, please let me know.

Happy Thanksgiving Week to all my U.S. readers! Because of the holiday, I’ll have family in town, so there will not be an update next week on the 3rd. Regular updates should resume on Dec. 10th, so keep your eyes peeled.

When I woke up, the first thing I noticed was how tired I was. “How does that work,” I groaned as rubbed my throbbing head. “I was asleep for hours. Why am I exhausted?”

“You were lucid when you were supposed to be resting,” Grey answered as they came over to check my vitals and unhook the equipment from my little trip.

Tyche gave a grudging nod as she held a straw to my mouth. I drank gratefully, and grimaced. Whatever I was drinking tasted like electrolyte drink and medication. “Did you catch everything?”

Grey, my sister, and Antoine glanced at each other. Before they could say anything, a buzzing voice cut in. “There are gaps in the recording on your end, which were not unexpected. The implants are not designed to broadcast outside of your auditory processing center, and I can only perceive vague intentions.”

On my opposite side, I heard the sound of chairs clattering across the floor and my berth sank as two rather heavy people used it to push themselves to their feet. A string of curses in Japanese filled the air just before a thick, Irish accent boomed out. “She just let you drug her for ten hours so she could question a talking germ. While she is being constantly having her blood filtered to replace her hemoglobin so the same thing you want her to have a chat with doesn’t kill her. She is sick, she is dehydrated, she is exhausted. Your questions need to wait. She needs to sleep first.”

I held up a hand on that side without so much as glancing over, trusting that Conor would lean down so I could reach his face. When I felt a beard press against my palm, I stroked his cheek with my thumb. “Baby, they’re right. It’s fresh right now. People only tend to remember information for forty-eight hours without repetition. So, it can’t wait, unfortunately.” I finally turned my head and looked up.

Conor had not only pressed his cheek to my hand, he craned his head down so I could see his face easily. Tears filled his eyes, threatening to spill over. “Sophie. I know I’ve been an ass, but this is the second time you have been close to dying in less than so many years. And there is nothing I can do to protect you on this one…”

I tugged him down so I could hug him. “You’re sick, too. We all are. But answering questions isn’t going to threaten my life. I promise I will sleep after this.” I leaned as far as I could around him so I could see the scowling face of Maverick behind him. “You hear that? Sleep. Lots of sleep. After I fill in the gaps, I’ll sleep.”

Maverick turned one baleful, dark eye toward me. He considered me solemnly before nodding “I’ll accept that deal.” He stepped forward, coming to stand next to Conor. “Sophia, we just want to make sure you take care of yourself.”

I nodded. “I know. But sometimes, it comes down to taking care of myself, or letting myself suffer just a bit so that I can take care of everyone else.” Smiling ruefully, I reached for Maverick’s hand. “But that is a huge part of me. It isn’t going to stop. You both need to know that. If you want to talk about it, we can do it after I fill in these gaps and get some sleep.” Once they nodded in confirmation, I turned back to the medical team plus Tyche. “Let’s do this. What do I need to fill in? Point me at your gaps.”

Noah waved with one vomu. “Most importantly, where did Else come from?”

My stomach sank. “Right to the tough stuff.” I swallowed thickly and resisted the urge to look at anyone except Noah. “They said that we, humans, accidentally made them. Here. On the Ark.”

Every voice in the room rose, all at once. I rolled my eyes and covered my ears, noticing that Tyche had done the same. Sure enough, a high-pitched whine filled the room. Judging by the sight of Grey and Antoine hitting their knees and the vibrations coming from the other side of my berth, Noah had employed their own special brand of crowd control. Once the whine stopped, I lowered my hands and Noah gestured that I should continue.

Clearing my throat, I obliged. “Else is… childlike, almost. They don’t mean to hurt anyone. They know us. They… like….us. Like, a lot. They were so, so sorry about what happened to Nixe.”

“You said we made them,” Grey exhaled, trying to get everything back on track.

“By accident. Yes.”

“Did they know how it happened?”

Now I knew why Else had gotten so short with me. “I only know how I was conceived because I was told by someone who was there, Grey. Why do we expect Else to know any differently?”

They nodded, somewhat curtly, to indicate their concession to that point. “If we can determine out how it was created, we can extrapolate how to combat it.”

“That makes sen – wait. What do you mean, ‘combat’ it?”

“Else is a bacterium, specifically one that has infected the humans on the ship and can kill us if left unchecked. By definition, it is a plague.”

Tyche’s eyes widened, then narrowed as she whirled around to face the head researcher. “You mean antibiotics. As in, killing it.”

“Of course.” The tone was confused, as though this was the obvious solution. Being that they were the closest we had to a head of medicine, I suppose the solution did seem obvious. Except one critical piece of information…

Quickly, I flicked open my datapad. “Sophia Reid to Xiomara Kalloe. Xio, are you able to come down to my medbay? I need you, right now.”

“Ten minutes out. Do you need me to send Miys ahead of me?”

“Noah is already here, and there is no immediate threat.” Not to me, anyway. “I’ll see you in ten minutes.” Dismissing the screen, I looked back up at my friend and fellow Councilor already in the room. “Grey, it’s not that simple. Else is sentient. I’m pretty sure. Which means Galactic Law may apply, hence why I asked Xiomara to come.”

They blinked slowly. “The trials.”

“Yep,” I nodded. “She’s been digging into Galactic Law ever since then, to make sure we don’t get caught flat-footed again. If Else is sentient, we have to treat them as people under the law.”

“Couldn’t Noah have told you that?” Maverick chimed in, bewildered.

I shook my head. “Unfortunately not. ‘A similar species, regardless of what point of evolution, cannot make the decision if another species may be sentient.’ It’s to prevent sympathy from overriding logic.”

“Else is a bacterium,” Grey argued.

“With a hive mind.” I gave a pointed look at Noah. “Which means, if they are sentient, they could evolve into something like the Hujylsogox, given time.”

Noah made a gesture of confirmation, sweeping one vomu across its body. That seemed to settle the matter of Xiomara’s involvement, and we all patiently waited for her to arrive.

Finally, she breezed in the door as though her skin wasn’t ashen from illness. Defiantly of any perceived lack of health, she crossed her arms and braced her feet as she looked at us. “So, what’s the emergency? I could be lounging around with all I can drink Gatorade right now.”

Before Grey or I could say anything, Antione held up a hand to stave us off. “Sophia just woke up from her conversation with Else, and we need to know if you are versed in the Galactic Law regarding determination of sentience in a new species.”

Comically, Xiomara slumped slightly, hands dropping and mouth gaping. Almost immediately recovering, she cleared her throat. “I mean, yeah. I’ve gotten that far. It’s fascinating stuff, actually. But why?”

“They can talk.”

“Only with words previously used by you, and they do not retain the information.”

“Because several generations have passed for them! Humans don’t retain language for more than one generation if there is no way to use it or pass it on. You know this!” This argument came from my sister. Tyche was getting as upset as I was, apparently.

“And they re-learn it very quickly,” I tried pointing out.

“So do antique chat bots.”

“Except that Else demonstrates that they know what the words and concepts mean, and can retain internal logic of the conversation.”

“Which makes sense if it is causing you to hallucinate the entire conversation.”

I sent a pleading look at Xiomara, but she only tilted her head from side to side. “Speech isn’t necessarily a criterion, but even if it was, there is no clear determination that Else is capable of intelligent speech. That seems to depend solely on native communication.”

Damn it. I snapped my fingers rapidly, trying to think of a new piece of information, berating myself for getting into this position. Myself. “Self. Else demonstrates a sense of self. One independent of its concept of humans. It… they pled for their lives. They apologized for hurting us, and understood what that meant. Not only that, they corrected me several times on where they came from. Arguing demonstrates the ability to use logic, right?”

“Not necessarily,” Xiomara pointed out. “Conor argues with me all the time.”

“Hey!”

I glared at her. Now was not the time for jokes.

Apologetic, she held up her hands. “On the other side, though, sense of self as a separate identity from others, along with understanding of the concept of death, are criteria for sentience.”

“What are the rest?” I asked, hope flooding my voice.

“Do they have any subjective experiences?” she asked.

“I’m honestly not even sure what that means,” I admitted, close to tears.

“Opinions,” Antione supplied helpfully. “Experiences through their frame of existence and perception that they have opinions about unrelated to survival.”

I bit my lip as I thought. “The showed regret?”

“They also know we can kill them,” Grey argued, not giving up without a fight.

“They showed empathy?”

“So does your cat.”

Xiomara shook her head at Grey’s petulance. “Jury is actually still out on cats, so that’s not as definitive as you would like it to be. But empathy doesn’t count – even among humans, several psychological disorders prevent empathy, but that doesn’t mean those people aren’t sentient.”

“They asked me to stop reciting scientific papers?” I asked in a Hail Mary attempt.

“They had what they needed,” was the suggestion from our self-designated Devil’s Advocate.

“Yes and no,” I said softly, realizing something. “They found it annoying and boring… They also scolded me for using profanity.” Little things I had initially ignored rushed to the forefront of my memory. “They knew Conor only gave the catnip to Tyche because he thought she would like it. They knew Tyche loves me… they knew what that meant. And they actually told me how sick I was, the first time. I didn’t realize it, but they told me my face and hands were injured.”

“That’s what the nightmare was that made you scream?” Tyche demanded.

Nodding vigorously, I clarified. “When I first came to the medical bay, there was moderate cellular damage in my hands, remember? We didn’t think anything of it, because it was so simple to fix. But in the nightmare, my hands were a horror show. I never would have even had them scanned if it wasn’t for that nightmare. And the bruises around my eyes, from the anemia… they mentioned something was wrong with my face.”

“They told you out of self-preservation,” Grey supplied as the subsequent argument, but the staunch faith was wavering at this point.

“They didn’t know we were dying. Not then.” I took a deep breath. “And they make jokes, when I talk to them. When I asked if they were deliberate or accidental, they didn’t just tell me they didn’t know. They made a joke about my parentage. Which means they took offense.”

Xiomara took a deep breath and ran a hand over her hair. “Boredom, annoyance… being offended. Those are definitely opinions, and not related at all to survival.” I held my breath and prayed to any entity that was listening.

“By definition of Galactic Law, Else is sentient. Antibiotics are out.”

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