Re: (IC) Lost in Dreams (Julian)
 

"When's that?"

"They had me offer the Starpus a better deal. The Starpus thought it was a better offer than what they were getting, and jumped for it."

"The Starpus still want that deal."

Well, like I can make that happen.

"Hopefully they don't decide making copies of me works as well as Starpus."

Re: (IC) Lost in Dreams (Julian)
 

"Tomorrow Morning"


I assume he also explains the particulars of the deal.



"So they were manipulated into coming. I suppose I can't blame them. They'll have to renegotiate. They can probably eventually get their ship... if they maintain their focus."


Ypress looks like he's been slapped. "would that work?" he asks worriedly


*********************************
running this to move things along concurrently.



Julian will be kept in cells or cuffs until he's on the ship that's leaving. He's given an enormous meal with six different kinds of food for dinner, but he is alone in his cell. He still has his diary.



His sleep is dreamless.

Re: (IC) Lost in Dreams (Julian)
 

Well that's good.
"Well, Starpus Travel builds on their telekinesis, right? If I can imitate their telekinesis, it might be possible to imitate one of them doing travel. If cloning me would create a copy with the same abilities, well, I guess nine specially trained Julian copies would be very busy on starships."

"Is it normal to have this much variety of food?"

Well, I guess I should make a fourth entry for the day. When I get on the ship, I ask, "Can I watch the Starpus when we travel?"

Re: (IC) Lost in Dreams (Julian)
 

"It builds on their astropic brains, though in a different way than humans. We don't know if its linked to telekinesis. I don't think it is. why would it be?"

Jailer: "Yes. Its how we deal with picky eaters."

The only person he can ask is the guy who feeds him. "What? No! You're in here as long as we're in the Panogos system. We don't want you to try anything."

That night, Julian dreams. He dreams of Royal and Florence, in yet another featureless room, discussing their options. Florence holds up "The sample", and says at least they can clone the traitor. Seven asks if they think he was really a traitor or if they think he just got caught, and Florence is sure he was a traitor, and Royal thinks its likely.

Julian dreams of Paulis Tatim, working late, listening to briefings about drone warfare.

Julian dreams of the starpus. He can tell that they are his from the sizes, and maybe the colors. They're in a tank. He can hear them talking about if they are going to get their new deal. Big Digger is silent, letting the others discuss the various points. They're somewhat worried they're going to be put back in the ocean of Koru.

Julian wakes, still in his small cell. Its morning. The Jailer comes back outside his door to give breakfast. "You're almost out! We'll be jumping in... 31 minutes!"

The jailer sticks around, and seems quite cheerful. He brought a chair and has an extra tablet "We'll give you the tablet as soon as we jump. Then you sign again, and we'll let you out."

Re: (IC) Lost in Dreams (Julian)
 

"They talked about it in terms of like, 'eight pull in their direction'. Maybe they have some other way they could pull, but, I think they'd have their own strange word for it."

I wonder if picky means something different than what I'm used to, like vegetarian or gluten-free...
Guess I was thrown off by:
I wake, and wonder if it would have been better to run, even if I would've been caught.


I look at the collection of breakfasts: bacon and eggs, pastries, fruit, something that resembles seaweed... "Isn't it kinda wasteful making all this food, only for most of it not to be eaten?"

"What's it like to jump?"

"Why would I have to sign a second time?"

Re: (IC) Lost in Dreams (Julian)
 

Ypress: "I've never heard of it, but that doesn't mean its not the case. I'm not astropic. We'll need to find out if you can do it: it will change our response to this event immensely"

I wonder if picky means something different than what I'm used to, like vegetarian or gluten-free...

Jailer: "We're in orbit above Panogos. Food is cheap."

Jailer: "To signify that you don't prefer to remain incarcerated at the last moment."

"You won't notice a thing, unless someone makes a mistake or you're watching out of a window. One moment you're here. The next you're there. In some ships they turn the power down to minimal settings afterwards to recharge the capacitor, but I don't think we'll be doing that. Once we get there, we'll be maneuvering though, and you'll feel the ground tilt as a result of that.

Jailer is wrong. Julian feels the whole ship start to tingle, especially the outside. He hasn't gotten a good feel of what the ship looked like before, but now he does: its a giant donut with a pole running through the center. He can feel the edge of it, or something akin to it. Its energized, ready for something. He's in part of the donut. Then he feels the location of the starpus running the jump: on the exact opposite side of the ship from him. He can feel the circle, with one in the center and eight all around. They're not the ones he knows. The one in the center is doing... something. Something that's shaking the tingling in the whole ship.

The energizing gets stronger and stronger, and then Peter feels the coordinates they're going to as an impression, the same way starpus talk about any location, and then it all stops.

Jailer has a clock for the transfer moment. It still has one second left.

Re: (IC) Lost in Dreams (Julian)
 

"I just made a war worse... I'm piece of work, aren't I?"

Wow, people are rich in the future.
"Why would I prefer prison?"

I try to remember the impression of the coordinate. No wonder the Starpus like doing this.

"Huh, it finishes a second early."

I wonder if Julian will be cut off.

Re: (IC) Lost in Dreams (Julian)
 

Ypress clicks something on his pad. "You have an eclectic vocabulary. That's a very Archaic idiom. I don't think your ethical framework has any bearing on you making the war worse."


That is the general trend... though do remember jailer specified "Panogos"

Jailer: "We have to check. I know some people who have. This is your last chance to insist on your innocence and ask for a trial instead."

It sticks in your mind remarkably well.


Jailer: "What do you mean?"

Re: (IC) Lost in Dreams (Julian)
 

"I chose to tell them about the telekinesis and everything else. I could have told them I wouldn't cooperate. I could have not told you about the telekinesis and hoped you wouldn't be too bothered about Astropic cloning. Many choices, and I ended up picking the ones that would make a conflict more important, and thus worse. And I'm not sure if it's worse that I made those choices carelessly or that I'm kinda glad this might be one of the few things that can stop them from cloning me..."
"Even if I was, I doubt a court would find for that."
"The Starpus finished a second early. Must be random error."

Re: (IC) Lost in Dreams (Julian)
 

Ypress: "A choice without knowledge is not a choice. Did you know these decisions would make the conflict worse? Truly?"

Jailer: "After that statement? yeah, it'd be pretty unlikely."


Jailer: "And how do you know that?"


Jailer passes Julian the pad, and once its signed, he unlocks the cell. "Welcome to Koru. You may now walk about the ship. Here is a temporary Data-Pad. we'll want it back when you leave the ship. Use it to contact me when you're ready to talk about your schedule. You have about two hours before the shuttle for the descent leaves."