kaolinandbone | Tea in the Gardens and Antechambers

As the many multiversal guests are gated in, singly or in groups, a crowd slowly begins to form in the entry hall. Lioncourt looks up from her meditation break and claps her hands twice: in moments, a dozen automaton servants file out from the adjoining rooms, hands of gleaming white porcelain holding equally elegant china tea-sets. A pair of the automatons open the doors at the far end of the hall, revealing a tiered rose garden, the stone benches dotted here and there ringing a large central clearing.

"Tea is served, either here or in the gardens: I would appreciate it, however, if some of my guests might proceed onward so as to reduce crowding."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

ambrovimvor

"We're working on it too. Well, the Householdings are. And no, it really doesn't, I'm sorry."

Edited Date: 2015-06-09 03:25 am (UTC)

From:

scatteredstars

"I would offer to help, but, well." Ze shrugs. "We're a bit busy with our own. If technology would be useful, that can probably be accomplished? --As for the other, I am not really sure how to explain. Do you even have computers?"

From:

ambrovimvor

"The Ancients had those. We find them sometimes, but they don't work anymore. Well, usually. I found one that works but I think it's just because of the forum."

"I don't know what technology you have that might be useful. Or whether I could afford to accept anything. So far me and Linsa are the only ones who know anything about..the forum, and things."

From:

scatteredstars

Tyche makes a thoughtful sound. "Could you plausibly claim to have found an Ancient cache? I'm not sure if nanofabricators could make selyn, but if they could that would... presumably be very useful. Computers are good for anything that requires analysis. Defences for your Householdings. Medicine. I could go on."

From:

ambrovimvor

"I don't know how you'd create selyn from nothing, outside of a living Gen body..." She shakes her head. "As I said, we don't find working machines normally. We have medicines for most things, or channels can close wounds and speed healing. The most common disease we have that we have trouble treating is acute appendicitis. The Ancients used to...cut people open (yes that is disgust)..but for a channel, that's...horrifying. I just can't imagine it. I don't suppose you have a better way of fixing it? That one could pass off as one of the usual medications we use for pain or sosuch?"

From:

scatteredstars

"Does it take a physical form?" Tyche wonders.

She is silent for a long moment. "I think that should be possible." She retrieves a device from a compartment, and spends a little while fiddling with it before setting it down. "I don't know how to do it offhand, but I should be able to look it up when I get home and send you blueprints for the fabber. It would be helpful to know about any major physiological differences you have, especially in that area?"

Edited (sneaky typo-fixing) Date: 2015-06-09 05:18 pm (UTC)

From:

ambrovimvor

"Selyn is energy."

"I don't imagine that a Gen, or a child for that matter, is very different in that area....Simes...might be. Though we are also less prone to infections in general so perhaps it's less urgent."

From:

scatteredstars

"So you would probably need mindless Gen bodies, which is... inefficient at best."

Tyche taps her fingers on the table thoughtfully. "A genetic sample would probably not be helpful, given your developmental patterns. What do you know about Sime physiological differences, beyond the tentacles? I presume you do not have a traditional digestive tract -- does appendicitis even occur among Simes?"

From:

ambrovimvor

She shudders slightly "Inefficient and a little disturbing."

"Well we do require some food for building blocks, simply not for energy, so we do have a functional digestive tract, though most of the organs are smaller then in a Gen Appendicitis is not common, but does occur occasionally."

Edited Date: 2015-06-09 05:48 pm (UTC)

From:

scatteredstars

"They wouldn't start with minds," Tyche says absently. "That would be even more inefficient."

"Do you mind if I do some analysis? Visual and audio, nothing invasive." (She has observed Anda's flinch reaction to surgical procedures, even if she isn't entirely sure why)

From:

ambrovimvor

"I don't mind."

From:

scatteredstars

Tyche had previously only been using her enhanced senses in a passive, absent-minded way. Now, she retrieves a few more devices, points one at Anda, and... applies all the senses.

Radar (metals, pulse rate, respiration), infrared (temperature, chemical imaging), lidar, ultraviolet, x-ray (the device was an emitter; implants skeletal structure), ultrasound (movement, density, imaging), infrasound (vibrations, heat beat). Chemical sniffer (the other device; analyzes air). Electrical Sense (electrical fields).

From:

ambrovimvor

Body temperature is several degrees above standard human, there are some unusual hormones, and the nervous system is quite unusual, with lots of extra branches.

From:

scatteredstars

They have more limbs -- nerves associated with those are to be expected. The other additional nerve tissue is a surprise, however. Tyche looks more closely at that. Can she tell anything more about what is going on there?

From:

ambrovimvor

there appears to be two mostly distinct sets of additional nervous tissue, connected by a bundle in the centre of the chest, near the heart.

From:

scatteredstars

Tyche tries to make out more about the central bundle.

From:

ambrovimvor

There's not much activity (comparatively) there at the moment.

From:

scatteredstars

Which doesn't tell her very much. Maybe Anda knows more? Tyche relates her findings to her.

From:

ambrovimvor

"Mmm..yes, that's a channel thing. We have two storage systems for selyn, one for the selyn we use personally, and the other is the selyn we usually give to other Simes. The bit that joins them we call the vraimic node. It's possible to shunt selyn between the two systems, for say, emergency survival purposes."

From:

scatteredstars

Tyche nods thoughtfully. "How much of that additional nervous tissue would you expect non-channel Simes to have?"

From:

ambrovimvor

"Significantly less, I don't know if you could tell, but a channel's secondary storage is much larger then their primary, and a channel's primary system is larger then an ordinary Sime's system."

Edited Date: 2015-06-09 10:48 pm (UTC)

From:

scatteredstars

"Interesting. Do you know why your primary system is larger?"

From:

ambrovimvor

"Mmmm...we don't understand it fully, and what we do understand is rather...technical." She shrugs apologetically and spreads hands and tentacles in a "what can you do" gesture.