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"Do not confuse History with Archaeology. In Archaeology, we seek to know what has happened. In History we seek to learn what the victors wish to tell us." -- Dr. Crichton, MacSullivan keynote, AS 2775.132 |
2782.162-2782.189 the Planet -> Crux -> Gateway |
Cassandra finishes two paintings. One is of the planet:
A landscape, all in golds and whites. Golden sand lies like a soft blanket, and crystals are tumbled about like discarded toys. There is a spiral ramp, curving around and up, becoming insubstantial the higher it goes. Long seven-palped footprints blaze in golden fire, going up and up around the ramp, and continuing on into the air even after the ramp has faded away. The painting is signed with a sigil of five stars.The other is the painting for Ruehan (his prize for winning the acid race), and is of Lord Stannis, painted from memory. She thinks that it is not one of her better works, as she is unable to discern Lord Stannis's true nature without an actual sitting, and thinks she is influenced more by other people's opinions of his nature. She is willing to try again when next she is on Stannis Law.
A painting of Lord Stannis seated in his Court of Judgement. He is dressed in a suit, but the shadows fall upon it to suggest the folds of a toga. A naked sword lies across his knees, but his smile is warm and generous. The painting is signed with a sigil of five stars.There is something of a panic in the village - the Others are coming! The Hippocrates crew declares that they can deal, and heads out to meet them - there are two evident. The Deciders say that they have formed a Decision. The majority (seven of them) declare that they want to work with humans to leave the planet. The minority decision (one) is to remain on the planet, in case the majority decision is proven false by being destroyed. Dr. Kye (the only one around who speaks any Decider) wants to know if they have any way to ameliorate peril. They have some amount of ability to redirect the damage from peril onto a particular target, but in the case of the Snake, that will not prevent the ship from being flushed back out.
As the Others don't seem to be being defeated, the villagers are getting a little antsy. Sawyer swings by the Hippocrates to try to recruit Akito to his mob, while Hippocrates tries to calm Jack and Sayid (they're more willing to talk than Sawyer is). Kye warns the Deciders that they are in the process of forming a Decision, and that a minority decision may wish to do violence to the Deciders. He suggests that they withdraw for the moment, and they do.
Sawyer is upset - they're getting away! His group starts to charge, but Akito grabs Sawyer, telling him "This is not the way." Over the radio, Akito asks for assistance: "Please come back to the ship. I'm not sure that I can restrain them all without harming them."
Sawyer calls Akito a traitor, and punches him. Akito doesn't manage to dodge all of it, but at that point Sawyer is satisfied, and heads off. Ruthie fusses about this, and tries to get Akito to go fight Sawyer, but Akito is more willing to let bygones be bygones.
Hippocrates explains to Jack that they'll need the Deciders to make their escape attempt. Have the Lostians decided to come with then? Jack explains to Hippocrates that while everyone does want to get out, many are worried that they won't make it, and don't want to risk their lives or their childrens' lives.
A number of people pack up boxes of sand and crystals, and Max packs up a box of general potential from the planet. Max (channeling a Pierogian feng shui master) also attempts to persuade Hippocrates to let him redesign the bridge to make the chi flow work better.
Dr. Kye mentions wanting to explore the underground river. Jim has his underwater scooter, but is worried about letting Kye drive it (and Kye, not being a babe, can't ride on it with Jim). Consequently, Jim offers to do a scouting run to see if there is anything that looks archaeologically significant. He heads upriver against the current; the river bifurcates several times, and after about an hour upstream, it becomes too small to traverse or turn around in. Jim heads back downstream again, passing the fishing area, and continues on. The river joins up with several other sources, becoming larger and wider, until eventually it opens out into a sunless sea. It could take weeks to explore, but there isn't any obvious sign of civilization, or, indeed, anything but fish and a strange grey seaweed.
Jim starts to head back upstream, but there are a large number of choices, and he's out of neutrino radio range. And, alas, there is no GPS reception on the unknown planet with no magnetic field. He starts trying river branch after branch, confident that eventually he'll get the right one.
Many hours later, Dr. Kye is still waiting patiently at the river entrance, and people are beginning to get worried. Katya reads Jim's mind, and he's thinking "Hmm, that fish looked familiar... I must be getting close." She confirms with him that he's okay; another hour later, Jim finally returns. Dr. Kye decides maybe it's not worth his while to go explore, and people pull the grey seaweed out of the scooter's intakes for later analysis.
Walt, back at the radio room, gives a shout. "Sayid! Sayid! Someone is on the radio!" Sayid heads over, followed by Hippocrates.
Hello? Is anyone there? -SayidSomehow Akito hears about this before everyone else does, and he tells Ruthie. Ruthie dashes off to bet Ace five asters that they'll eventually be rescued by the Inopportune Moment. He takes the bet.
Ahoy the planet! What is your situation? -Voice on the radio
We're trapped on the planet. I don't mean to be rude, but are you here to rescue us, or are you trapped too?
We are here to rescue you, for the Inopportune Moment has arrived.
We're saved!
There's much excitement over the next two days as the Inopportune Moment heads for the planet. As they get close, Jack starts to give the Moment the standard spiel about landing near the other ships, and then Grimblemaury is standing next to Hippocrates. Hippocrates asks how they're doing. Well, they're rich... For some reason, Maury doesn't sound as pleased as he could be about this. Hippocrates asks where they left Mendel. Ah. Well. That. As it turns out, they were looking for Mendel when Jayla called them.
Don't - -MauryMaury explains that when they popped back into spacetime, they were unable to contact anyone. As it turns out, there was a systemwide jamming field that had been set up in Stannis Law that seemed to trigger on their reappearance, but initially it seemed like everyone was gone. A ship arrived with the "last thirty survivors of humanity" and they were welcomed and feasted. That night, everyone fell asleep particularly hard, and they ran off with Mendel.
-panic yet? -Max
No, panic all you want. I'm going to tell you what happened, but don't bring the topic up with the captain, because she's really pissed. They really played her, and she's not going to be able to rest until she has vengeance. -Maury
How about DaVinci? Well, he hadn't been captured when they left. Yet. But Maury hastens to point out that that was a month ago.
Max arranges the mess hall to make it seem more spacious - if people get claustrophobic in the Snake, they can get put there. He also rearranges the bridge a bit, and sculpts a dragon for the navigator and a model of the ship for the pilot.
Akito asks Janina Megaera for an autograph, which puts her in a bit better of a mood before she and Hippocrates get into an argument over whose ship is being used (the Moment brought a towing coupler) to save who. Captain Megaera is willing to concede on which ship is used for actually flying the Snake, but she holds firm on getting to tow the Hippocrates into Crux, for their reputation. Hippocrates protests that they just saved Crux from the ghosts of the Strategos fleet, and the Inopportune Moment got all the credit. Janina is amused, but does manage to beat Hippocrates in the battle of persuasion, so he concedes the point.
Jim tells Aristotle Brecht (their pilot and Legendary Navigator) about the ghost-battle with the Strategos, and asks about the original. Aristotle tells him about the original - they had to bluff and stand the fleet off, but they used more social tricks and less mad science. Spoofing his sensors while persuading him one of the engines was on fire, that sort of thing.
Aristotle also mentions to Katya that Janzur was on Crux, and gives her the name of a hotel where she should contact him when she arrives. Also, don't mention Janzur to the captain, as they had a fight and Janina is pissed at him too.
Maury spends some time prowling around the dome, but can't quite pull off enough successes to teleport in. He's thinks some glitter would help, but sadly, he doesn't have any.
All the villagers are packed onto the two ships - there is much less dithering now, since nearly everyone has heard of the Inopportune Moment and believes that they can pull off a rescue. The Kaufman facility is packed full of the party's valuables, as it's the room most likely to have karma spent to protect it. The Deciders are stationed on the bridges of the two ships, to try and coordinate their tech.
Ruthie and Akito have a long talk where Ruthie demonstrates her burgeoning maturity by admitting that now that she sees them both up close, the Hippocrates is indeed a technically better ship. Though the Moment totally has a cooler paintjob, and Akito agrees.
Linnet asks Akito if they're going to die. Akito tells her "We're going to try really hard not to" and she nods and heads off to the Kaufman facility with a box of valuables.
Finally, it's into the Snake! Aristotle proves himself up to his reputation, though his dice-rolling luck is poor: he can buy up his ones, and can take extra-long on something to decrease his difficulty. Janina is appointed Commodore of the two-ship fleet, as she can let someone she's in charge of roll the ship's reliability. Both Aristotle and Ace take advantage of this, leaving Janina temporarily in command of the Hippocrates.
Once the Snake is traversed, it's still most of a month back again to Crux, and people find various ways to amuse themselves.
A little more than a week into the trip, Dr. Kye invites Janina Megaera back to his cabin for dinner. He shows her some of the mysterious rings he's been acquiring, and asks what she can tell him about the cave on Gateway. She's pleased to hear that he's stolen several from Memento Mori, as she doesn't seem fond of them. She approves that Kye doesn't seem to have done too much desecrating of graves to get the rings, though she's saddened by the body found buried in the middle of nowhere on Crux. She says he deserved better, and says she'll arrange to give him a more appropriate burial.
Kye asks if she can possibly shed any more light on the situation, but she tells him she's not sure she's allowed to. What does he know? He knows the time the place was set up, and that it was set up by a small, select group, who intended to preserve or hide something for quite a while.
"So you're here because you need my ring?" -Janina
"Well, you came for us." -Kye
"All right, you lured me into the most desolate place in the known universe because you need my ring?"
"So, it sounds like you're all over it, then." -JaninaJanina is reasonably impressed, since Kye is willing to take the credit for solving the anagram, and asks how long it took him. He says "about a month." She doesn't think he's lying, exactly, but there's something oddly fishy about it. Anyway, she agrees that she might be convinced to show up at some location somewhere in the future, if she's issued an invitation. But he'll have to tell her where, because if she tells him where, that's cheating.
"I was hoping we could do this with your cooperation..." -Kye <Janina raises an eyebrow>
"Is there is anything you want to say to me?" -Janina "Marry me!" -the peanut gallery
"Other than 'GOOD FENCES MAKE GOOD NEIGHBORS'?" -Kye
He asks if there's anything she can tell him. Like, how much equipment might be needed? She says two reasonable-sized trucks should do it. In the end, Kye is charming enough to seduce Janina, and a good time is had by all.
Later, Hippocrates talks to Janina about her search for Mendel. She says that the site on Sundown was thoroughly looted, so she was planning a strike on Memento Mori to find out what they found out. Hippocrates allows as he has that information, and shows her. Okay, so she doesn't have to go after Memento Mori. Hippocrates agrees that they're annoying, but there are people he'd rather strike. He explains his Plan.
"The sacrifice con, always a good one." -JaninaSomething she suggests might want to be added to his plan in some way - while they're all criminals, they're also all devout Starwayists, for what that's worth. She agrees to pull strings to start arranging the conference on Gateway, to keep the setting up and walking out as separate as possible.
She also wants to make sure that, when this finally goes down, that there's not going to be a deal cut with them - they're going down, or going to jail. Hippocrates agrees, except for Talia's father, who he says he's promised to Talia in exchange for her help. Janina is impressed that they caught the shadow ninja.
Ruthie wants to know why the Hippocrates doesn't have Drop Pods. Drop Pods are the coolest thing! She also collects her five asters from Ace. Later, Jim talks to Janina, fishing for confirmation on the theory that her line is DNA-encoded into the controls for Gateway Station and that's why the First Consort never changes.
"You were the governor of Gateway? You have ambassadorial privileges..." -JimJim finally remembers that the battlestation was built in his time, not hers, and that it thus seems very unlikely that her DNA is involved. Janina is definitely tired of Klothos - it's a pain running the blockade and dodging the battlestation each time she goes through Gateway. Jim is impressed - she runs it every time? Well, she's not letting Klothos's pilots fly her ship. Still, she thinks that if the First Consort is the one who controls the battlestation, it's because he's a techie, not because he's magic or DNA encoded.
"You've been talking to Jayla and Janzur. I'm a woman of many talents." -Janina
"Is one of your talents access to the battlestation?"
"Not yet."
"What would you need?"
"Get Rid of Klothos."
Hippocrates talks to Janina some more about the Plan. If Memento Mori isn't an option, then perhaps she'll head back to Nurl to poke around to see if she can find out any more useful information from the attempt on DaVinci. Hippocrates offers to introduce her to Commander Branch - she says she doesn't think Branch likes her, but she does know Dr. Spruinz and DaVinci.
Jim asks about the Boy Scout who had the ring. She says he was from Lendt, and became a Phoenix in what, she is told, was an extraordinarily short time. He was also an exemplary martial artist - sort of like Jim and Akito put together. She won't tell Jim any actual dates until she's sure he already knows them, but the confusion from the fact that the ring dates back to Janina's time but the archaeological site had Strategos Nomarche's book is resolved - there were several scouts in direct descent, and the one she knew personally was the first in the line.
Jim also asks what the Strategos said to the Moment when he had been held off for long enough - because his communications were jammed, they didn't hear. She tells him that she doesn't really have any recordings of that battle, but he's free to ask for stories among her crew.
Finally, the weary travelers reach Crux. The Inopportune Moment tows the Hippocrates in, does several victory loops over the capital, and flies off again.
Email arrives for Jim!
To: jim@hippocrates.net X-jump-fees: full From: d.rizer@trillian.sct.com pgp-coding: full ----------- You asked for my advice on rebuilding the Girl Scouts under your new regime. I have been thinking about it, and while I still think that you will do a disservice to both the Girl Scouts and the Boy Scouts by folding them into service of another goal, perhaps the Scouts have proved themselves insufficient for the service of the task they was designed for, and I must accept that. Girl Scouts will be easily turned towards the "charging" of a bloodline. Shared concentration on a task at hand, and support of the companion, is something that we are well trained to pursue. Though it will be difficult for your chosen leader if she (or I suppose he) considers herself above them. She must be one of them, or they will sense the separation and fail to follow. Perhaps this is most easily accomplished in a future generation. The time of greatest importance of Girl Scouts is in the time of the Fall, and being part of the government will hamper that. Do not fool yourself into thinking that something which is both an authorized check upon government and an authorized assistant to government is *not* government just because you do not term it so. Boy scouts will be more crippled in their final training by requiring them to focus upon a figurehead; the Phoenix will, by definition, fly alone with no star but his own ideals to guide him. When he flies by someone else's light, like a moth, he will fly in circles. Be very careful of that. However those who are not so advanced will naturally bathe in the light of the Phoenix and fully expect him to be above them. Perhaps you will wish some sort of separate order within your scouts to keep the various necessities compatible. The Guard Battalions have their place. As do the Elite. As do the Scouts. But they are not the *same* place. Remember what forces shape each, and how they are different to form the people who they must use. But, you will be the Phoenix this time, and it is your own vision which you must let guide you. I know your heart and I know that it is true beyond measure. If you are sure that this is the right path to follow - that *you* are sure, not that others are sure and are persuasive - then you will find ways to accomplish what must be accomplished, because that is what the Phoenix does. And if you are sure, then let no one, even me, turn you aside. I will be working on potential organizational flow schemes while I wait to hear from you. -DylannaA message arrives for Ace.
Boss:Katya heads to the hotel given her by Aristotle with Deirdre and Martya. There are two more Elite there, who introduce themselves as Random and Osric, and they present Katya with a letter, left by Janzur, as he had to leave the planet.Belle is in a real bitch of a mood right now, because the listening post went down. We had nothing to do with it, but she's looking for someone to blame and I'm the guy with the key. The Corinthian's looking for someone to blame, too, and he's got a plasma brand, so things are getting a little hot here. Marcia's been out of communication since she took off on your errand, so we're off to play holiday on Gateway and see what's up there.
Still, there's good news. The businesses really took off when the jumpgates opened. I'm leaving the first big hit of money in account 4982 at the Great Barrens Consolidated Bank for you - there's about 18,000 asters there now. More should be showing up, but if I were you, I wouldn't leave a big trail there and back. The Man may start taking an interest in the account if they catch on - see below for the trouble spots. Let me know what you want to do about them, and we'll take care of things when we get back.
- Granmarie's Nut Pasties. With some of Marcia's wiles and a lot of photos, we leaned on the husband for a while. Unfortunately, once the company started taking off, the wife really started getting shrill about the whole ``unseen partner'' thing, and they split. So the blackmail is really no longer much leverage; we've reached an accommodation, but the levels of return coming out won't be as high.
- Spirits of Fire, a place that markets ``permanent'' fires in glass globes, but they're really pretty trinkets that last a couple months. We got the boss here, Fyero, on camera selling a dose of Glitter to Marcia, so he's still knuckling under. But he's touchy, and without Marcia to smooth him down, he's been dropping hints to the Man, and raving about going to jail and take us with him. The company can keep going without him - there's four other minor fire mages on staff - but if he does actually blow the whistle for real, the Man could probably turn up several of the other businesses. Thought about rubbing him out, but he's got some sort of ``shield of the spirits of fire'' or mumbo jumbo like that, and the odds weren't good.
- Waigne Family Mist Orchids. This one is the real moneymaker. The owners were, very sadly, ``killed by parties unknown'' in a robbery, and we set up a real nice forgery for the will, so it's pretty much free and clear under our control. We felt bad about snuffing the kid too, so he's in Triconian's orphanarium on Sparta instead. He'll love it there, lots of kids his own age.
- Caiber Sugarmelon Farm. We got the lady of the house in over her head in gambling debt, and then bought it up. This one is ours free and clear too, and it's a good steady income, but sugarmelons aren't selling as well in the inworlds as they do in the outworlds.
- LaStrelle Sees All - a fortune-telling service. There's no actual LaStrelle, just a lot of little mages and a gatherer who put the act together. People send their names and info in and get a personalized prediction. And it's not a bad source of information, to boot. We've been leaning on the gatherer with the nice basic ``threat of physical violence,'' and it worked really well for a while, because she knew we'd follow through. But I have a bad feeling about this one for the long term. My gut feeling is that she's seen her black spot coming, and she's planning something to get revenge for when the clock runs out and she's got nothing left to lose.
- G J
To Her Puissance, Katya Lavalor, Hegemonic Scion of Strength, etc. etc.Kye heads to the Elite listening post to see what's up. It appears to be closed, and the apartment is empty, though there's a guy reading a newspaper nearby who appears not to be paying any attention.It is with the profoundest sense of joy that I present to you Random and Osric, continuing the fulfillment of the promise that is the rebirth of the Elite.
It is the Solemn Responsibility of the Elite to ensure the safety of the Scions of the Three Bloodlines, until such time as the Service of these Scions and their Bloodlines is no longer necessary for the good of All People. The Elite have Pledged, Bound, and Sworn their hearts, their lives, their very selves to the discharge of this Solemn Responsibility for the Three Bloodlines.
Furthermore, the Elite assigned to you have sworn to serve you and yours faithfully and to use their talents in your Service. Your secrets as well as your selves are safe with them.
While you may at your discretion alter or amend the particulars of the responsibilities of the Elite in your Service, they must reject any attempts to divert them from their Solemn Responsibility for your safety or to work against the Interests of any of the Scions, including yourself. These facts of their Service are not negotiable under any circumstances. Your cooperation in this is appreciated.
In the final analysis, interpretation of the actions necessary to ensure this Solemn Responsibility lies with the Elite in your Service. Adjudication of their interpretation lies with the Sentinel.
I trust you will find them satisfactory to their task.
Yours in Service
Janzur Therive
Sentinel
Max takes a tour of Parliament, and then talks to the building manager, with some ideas about improving the chi flow of the building, especially the area where the Senators discuss things, with an eye to improving harmonious discussion. The building manager notes that donating things like potted plants and benches is feasible, but an architectural redesign is a bit larger. No doubt it'll be renovated again in ten years or so, but if Max doesn't want to wait, he could try to get a bill passed calling for a more immediate design and renovation. Max ponders this, and goes shopping for things like plants to give as donations.
Ace shows his letter to Kye - he had forgotten that he was working on his Ruthless requirement when he originally set this up, and it's a fair bit more than he's happy with now. They contemplate how to put things right.
Ruthie and Linnet are recognized at the starport by Clarise and Darcy, two of the other girl scouts recruited originally by Dylanna, and they are introduced around. They aren't really sure about this whole Hegemon of Scouting thing, but they're willing to meet Katya and are quite personable. The patches they've earned are so far Cookies, Nursing, Surveillance, and Computers. After some conversations at the starport, it's decided that the girls, Katya, Jim, and Akito should have a picnic lunch the next day to get to know each other.
Ace and Kye head out to talk to Belle. She is, as expected, somewhat grumpy about the loss of the listening post, but considers that Ace's friends have a pretty strong alibi, being trapped on an undiscovered planet at the time. Ace says he thinks that the likely culprit is a previous associate of his, who found out about the use of the listening post and who disapproves. He speculates that the associate might disapprove less of the surveillance devices than the plasma brand training center, and there might be some ability to negotiate, if they can offer him something he cares about.
"Do we have leverage on him?" -BelleThe Corinthian is, apparently, not in the best of moods either - it is rare that he has to flee from the field of battle. Belle also indicates that the paper on Hippocrates has moved on and been provided with more substantial funds. There is a broker who has the funds and is arranging details, so Ace might want to let his friends know to stay on guard.
"He is disgustingly hard to leverage." -Ace
After everyone's errands are run, there's a meeting in the conference room. Ace assumes that Janzur is still on the planet, and that he objects to the compromise that they all knew he'd object to. Ace wants to work out a deal that leaves the planet standing. Oh, and there's an increased bounty on Hippocrates' head. Katya clarifies that the new Elite say that Janzur has already left.
The party dithers about what they can talk Janzur into, and whether having the listening post in the Underoutworld's hands spying for Belle and training the Corinthian / Marina / Belle's bodyguard is using it for Good or for Evil or for What.
"I'm on Janzur's side of the table here. I expect you're on Belle's side of the table." -HippocratesAce draws two tables, which has the Corinthian over there at that table, and Belle sitting as far away from him as she can. Ace is at this table, but on the side close to Belle, so he can talk to her, and probably on the other side of it from Hippocrates.
"Let's draw some tables." -Ace
Kye suggests that maybe Ace will need to make some sort of choice. Either take over that other table entirely, or divorce himself from it - because they're always going to be the other table, and that will always cause problems.
Hippocrates stares at Kye, disks thrashing, and various people contemplate whether the Mirrorverse people can have replaced him with Saint Kye after all.
Katya, looking for more information, questions her new Elite about the listening post. They confirm that Janzur shut the thing down and the three of them forced the Corinthian to retreat or be killed.
He was not entirely unskilled. -OsricAce brings up a couple of the problems Genghis Jones has passed off to him. First, there's this Fyero guy being blackmailed, who's been pushed as far as he can be, and could cause trouble. One possibility is to just break off the op, and let his business go on its way, though he could still bring down the heat on the Four in One if he wants to say "I'm being blackmailed" and risk the drug charges.
There's also the LaStrelle people, who have been being extorted, and Ace would like to stop that.
Ace and Akito and Max decide to head over to talk to the LaStrelle gatherer, Madeline. Max offers to make everyone not anyone's problem, though Ace points out that they can't all be invisible if they hope to have a conversation.
"I don't think it's a good idea to sneak up on the precogs." -AkitoAce falls on his sword before Madeline, taking responsibility for the guys who threatened her and telling her he was wrong to have done so. Akito (who is deemed to be more trustworthy) assures Madeline that Ace is sincere. Max identifies Madeline's illness as curable by 20 daily doses of Gold. Ace says that he will have his boys writing letters of apology. Madeline agrees to see Ace's doctor friend and see how it goes.
Next, Ace and Max go to investigate Fyero. It sounds like he's a user (of Glitter and White), but not a dealer himself. Marcia probably just talked him into selling her a dose from his personal stash.
Hippocrates and Jim set up an appointment for Max with the Evolutionist party to talk about a Parliament building redesign, and talk to Margalt Fender about the idea as well. She's dubious. They arrange for Max to redesign her office as a demonstration.
Ace heads to the Great Barrens Consolidated Bank, well-disguised to fool any policemen who might be watching. He withdraws 10,000 asters, and gets Twig to help him set up an air-tight trust fund for the Waigne kid. Twig asks him about who the Waigne kid is, and Ace explains. After hearing the tale, Twig agrees to help and say he'll make sure it's done right.
Hippocrates asks Ace to talk to Belle to arrange for the conference-moves-to-Riden hue and cry to happen when the Plan is executed. Ace arranges to meet Belle the next day.
The next morning, Ruthie and Linnet are dashing around gathering materials for the big picnic. It's their first Girl Scout Picnic, with Akito and Katya and Jim Powell and the other girl scouts, so they want to do a good job with the desserts!
Max examines Hippocrates' visual records from Margalt Fender's office. It's actually an amazing feat of chi flow already - it's very efficient, with all the energy being directed into joint mental effort, like a smoothly flowing whirlpool. About the only thing he can think of is to make the transition into the office more jarring, so that the effect of the office itself is more pronounced.
Hippocrates asks Linnet and Ruthie if there is anything he can do to assist with their picnic preparations. They ask him for bug spray, but alas, he doesn't have any. After a few more rounds, Linnet asks Hippocrates if he wants to go on the picnic, though Katya vetoes that when she hears about it, as she doesn't think the Girl Scout Picnic needs the assassins that are likely to be following Hippocrates around.
Max buys bug spray (but forgets to get it back to the scouts in time), and a copy of the Crux constitution to frame tastefully (for inside the office) and uses his fortune to shop for some sort of jarring transition. He finds a statue of Justice, with altogether too much symbolism. She has a sword in one hand and a balance scales in the other, and one foot rests upon a lion's back and against the other, a lamb rests, and there is a lantern on a small pedestal before her. Anyway, the statue was sculpted by an artist with some reasonable amount of talent, but no artistic judgement at all. Max buys it.
On the ship, only Hippocrates and Kye are left to hold down the fort, when Talia decloaks in front of Hippocrates, with a would-be-assassin slung over her shoulder. She says that Akito instructed her to guard Hippocrates while he was gone, and she found this man lying in wait with a line of sight on the ship's ramp, with a grenade launcher and a rifle. Hippocrates summons the police, and turns the assassin over to them, along with all the weapons (much to Kye's chagrin).
At the picnic a fine time is had by all. Clarise flirts with Jim, and Akito steals Darcy's heart by playing hard to get, but it's all in good fun.
Something starts to vaguely bug Hippocrates. After a little while, he realizes that the jump gate is saying "psst!" to him, over the medical channel. Hippocrates pings it back, and it sends a tiny encrypted and compressed file. Hippocrates starts decrypting it - cryptography for 13s produces a slightly larger encrypted and compressed file. Then decrypting it for 12s produces a slightly larger file. Then for 11s, and 10s, and 9s, and 8s, and 7s. This is crazy - compression doesn't work that way. At least, it's not supposed to. Eventually, the file starts its final round of self-extraction - it will be done in about twelve hours. It appears to be some sort of low-resolution video format.
Ace briefs Belle on the anti-Klothos plan. She isn't fond of Klothos herself, and this plan sounds reasonably low-risk to her, so she'll arrange for the stomping-out part.
Max goes to his meeting with the Evolutionists, and suggests a redesign for their office, which is not so much a master of chi flow already. They aren't yet convinced, but they'll see how the office goes and consider introducing a bill for an architectural redesign, depending.
Kye notices that the Crux financial markets have a subtle disturbance - there seems to be some effort from the inworlds being made to maintain confidence, but there's not any reason coming up that anyone should be losing confidence. This could be bad. It might be time to leave the planet sooner rather than later, to see what's going on. Kye emails GE and IPX telling them to expect market volatility, and position themselves appropriately, weighting it towards going short.
Max swings by Margalt Fender's office at the end of the day, to explain that he won't be able to do much of a redesign because it's already too good. But here are the things he bought, the Constitution for inside and the statue for outside. Fender is not at all convinced by the rationale for the statue, but is, like the Evolutionists, willing to see how it goes.
Suddenly remembering the Deciders from the planet, the group hands them off (again) to the Creekian embassy.
Ace, Max, Akito, and now Talia and Hippocrates, head back to Madeline's. Max keeps the vehicle nobody's problem, in case of assassins. Madeline is dubious - Hippocrates doesn't look like any sort of doctor that she's ever seen before, and she's not even sure he's real. Akito assures her that he is. Hippocrates confirms Max's diagnosis, gives her the twenty doses of Gold, and instructs her in how to use them. No, she can't use them all at once. Madeline seems pleased with the resolution and the party heads away again.
Ace goes alone, but in his Matrix armor, to talk to Fyero. He says he hears that deal has become untenable, and has a new offer: Fyero can buy the evidence from him, for the low price of a thousand asters. Then Fyero and his very successful business can recover from their financial loss over time, and all will be well. Fyero has a counterproposal - hand over the evidence, and he won't take Ace with him when he goes to hell! Ace tells him he has three hours to think it over, and leaves.
Two and a half hours later when Ace returns, Fyero is in the lab working on something. Ace wants to know if he's willing to deal. He can always take out a loan, using the equity from his business, once he stops bleeding money out his veins. For whatever reason, this is not able to convince Fyero, who throws his construct to the floor, setting the lab, and himself, and Ace, on fire. Fyero flees out the back and Ace flees out the front, taking a bunch of fire damage before he can put himself out.
Back at the ship, the mysterious message from the jumpgate has finished decrypting and Hippocrates throws it up on the main viewer for all to see. The movie proves to contain several great shocks, and everyone starts packing up to head to Gateway at top speed.
Ace asks Belle to try and cover the fallout from Fyero's building exploding, and briefs her on the contents of the movie. The latter goes a long way to make up for the former.
The Hippocrates dashes out of Crux and through Nonesuch towards the Gateway gate. There is a long queue - traffic to Gateway is currently being held due to a technical glitch that has nothing to do with the operation of the gate, the gate managers assure everyone. Please enjoy the amenities - free - of the harbor pilots' waystation.
Hippocrates checks in with the waystation, and is directed to please proceed through the gate.
When they arrive in Gateway, it is choked full with ships. The Blue "carrier ship" is the refurbished Harbinger, and has the Blue Hegemon in residence. Security for the Harbinger is being provided by the Red Fleet, under the control of the Red Heir, rather than Klothos.