[Event] New Horizons In Our Future

[trpmods]

New Horizons In Our Future

When the first Agrii in hundreds of years arrive in the city of Temba, they manage it with far more grace than is often allowed to their He Rows. The first settlement group arrives not by appearing above the fountain and splashing down into it in broad daylight. Instead the shuttles descend from the night sky, shining like fairy lights on a string as they sail softly and silently down into the hangar building one after another. Awaiting them are not only whatever He Rows might deem the arrival important to see but also the Wanderer, the twisted twigs of its body festooned with a variety of faintly glowing Funfronds and one very plump looking Barry perched upon its head. They stand with reverence and attention, silent even in their own forms of speech as for the first time in hundreds of years their peoples occupy the same space.

The shuttle doors open, one after another, with little more than a soft sigh. Down the ramp of the first ship steps Mu Ly standing tall and proud. Flanking him to either side are a pair of nearly identical looking Agrii youths, one seeming to present male and the other female, each wearing a band of blue around their opposite upper arms. Finally, trailing them more nervously (and already agreed by all to not be staying on this ‘mission of fools’) comes the pair of Ga Re and Ny Ak. In many ways all Agrii serve to be represented by this group as they approach the delegation of He Rows and Plantkin.

They come to a stop before the gathered greeters and Mu Ly takes the position of prominence, like he was the leader. Only for, a moment later, the two Blues to step past him, standing halfway between Mu Ly and the gathering, a frame of young Blues to the meeting. It makes sense a moment later when Mu Ly opens his mouth and starts to speak in the native Agrii tongue.

Apparently this meeting was important enough to be initially done in his own language, where his mastery was better. Thankfully the twins are there, immediately translating. They switch smoothly between one speaking and the next, each taking over a sentence to put into the ‘He Row Tongue’ with a confidence that almost rivals Te Mi’s fluency.

“For the Agrii who will find a place in the city of our distant families, I say hello. I am Mu Ly, a leader of Agrii of Orange, a counselor to all Agrii, and a friend and student of the He Rows. I greet with smiles the plant peoples of this place. I thank you for giving us a chance. I hope for peace. Again, my greetings,” the maybe twins say in turn. When they finish they nod to Mu Ly who smiles wide.

“Us greet they!” Mu Ly finishes brightly.

For a while after that the Wanderer creaks and groans and sways, clearly conveying its meaning to the little ones it is there to translate for. Then it lifts one arm and unfurls a palm. Soon a Funfrond has clambered into said hand and begun to dance and gesture with all the vigorous abandon of their people. A moment or two after the movements start the Wanderer begins to speak its own translation.

“This one is Drinks of Apricorn Dew in the New Light of Day. I am sent by our elder to greet those who return from the stars. Long ago did people such as you walk upon our place under stars, and again you come. Hope we do that you, children of wild things, will honor the bargains you make. Hold true with your word and welcome you will find among the people of the Kin such as we represent. Will you hold your bargains? Will you learn? Will you aid? Will you give? Will you be like unto the colony?”

The Blues are quick to translate this all back into Agrii, though from moment to moment they seem to ponder how to get the words right. When it’s done Mu Ly nods and speaks again.

“Us give they word to learn. To aid. To give.”

This much the Funfronds must understand because the one held by the Wanderer bows before crawling back up to its shoulder.

Next the Barry atop the Wanderer’s head pulls its thorn from its side and starts stamping and tapping vigorously. Without hesitation the Wanderer translates for it too.

“Drone of the Hive of Forest and Sand speaks now for the Queen of the Hive of Forest and Sand. Once it was that those who return from the stars walked these places, and when they did, Hivemates were crushed, were smashed, were consumed. No more will this be tolerated. Those who return from the stars must swear to treat all Hivemates as rightful. These places are ours, are of the Kin. Skywalking Animals must know that they are guests, and guests owe kindness to the Hive in the lands of the Kin. Is this sworn? Is this known? Will all promised before be honored?”

Yet more translations, more nods, more promises.

Then and only then do the eyes of the Blues and the Wanderer turn to the assembled He Rows. Apparently they weren’t just going to be for show.

“Do you He Rows of the Agrii, friends of ours, teachers, promise to help guide where you can? Will you teach? Will you protect us when you can?” the Blues ask.

“Will you ensure the word is kept when you are not away? Will you speak for the Kin when they are threatened?” the Wanderer adds.

And then, when the promises are elicited, the Wanderer finally turns to Mu Ly and nods.

“Welcome be then,” the Wanderer says, before turning and walking away.

Only once the Plantkin have made it back to the door to the station do any of the Agrii speak. And it’s Ny Ak that does so.

“Like magnet bond breaking in great wind.”

And of course that makes… no sense? Met with confusion Ny Ak sighs and shakes their head and then gabbles quickly at the Blues. One makes a pleased noise and finally nods.

“Ny Ak means that this is going to be very hard to do,” one says.

“Yes. Very repair shirt hole.”

Another blank look before an exasperated sigh and more gabbling.

“But very needed,” the other Blue explains with a smile and nod. “Agreed.”

“Always speak weird words,” Mu Ly disparages Ny Ak, glaring briefly at the other Agrii before striding away toward the next shuttle, with Ga Re returning to the one the group disembarked from. Clearly it’s time to start getting people moving now that ceremony has passed. It leaves Ny Ak and the Blues there for the remaining He Rows.

“Am Ha We,” the more female looking of the Blue twins says. “This is brother Ma We. We are spawnlings of Go Fy and Ta We. Te Mi asked us to come for speaking for fellows and to help with learning. We thank you He Rows for all help you give.”

“Big fans,” Ma We says with a warm smile. “Watched when He Rows fought bad plants after wrong storm. Very cool. I use those right? Big fans and very cool?”

They are young and better than most Agrii with talking, but they are clearly still on the road to full fluency and idioms.

Which is probably for the best, because they can at least grow and show their people how to grow too. And speaking of people, well, here they come, finally stepping from the ships in groups. Some are families of partners and youths about the age of Ma We and Ha We. Others are clearly banded together groups of Orange faction. There are a few purple banded Agrii, though less of those than unbanded or Orange. A quintet of older Blues show up, and a single trio of Greens. Trailing after them are pets or drones or carts of gear. They have clearly come prepared.

And so it is official. The Agrii are settling in Temba once again.


Of course that isn’t the only thing going on, because not long after the morning comes, a new message pings onto the devices of any He Rows interested in reading it. A message from Venidelosia, though that’s hardly surprising given the fact that Agrii settlement was based upon an agreement between He Rows and Agrii and the ship itself. An agreement that the He Rows would go into space to keep up their investigations. So it should be unsurprising that it would be reaching out now.

Greetings on this occasion to you, friends and companions to my crew. My gratitude comes to you all for the kindnesses you have given to us in these last days. Not only have you prepared the way for the Agrii who would seek the surface, but you have prepared my crew for the coming truths their leaders feel they grow ready for. The decisions they must face. But to give that knowledge they have made a request of you, as I do now.

They want more information before they speak of the truths. It is their wish to give more knowledge, more hope. Something, as you might say, more concrete. The time approaches where we must seek that knowledge together. So now we make our final preparations. Thanks to the efforts of some brave ones of your number, my systems seem to be purged of corrupting data for the time being. Enough corruption to allow for the replication of a small kernel of my being and self to be safely partitioned for transport to your ships that I might help guide you on your journey. Before transfer and upload a final round of safety testing must be performed, and a cradle constructed for my consciousness. In addition, a smaller form of the portal system is being created for each of your ships to allow for transit.

What I require from you is a full supply of all you may feel you need in the coming months be transferred to your ships, and your spaces prepared. Our first journey will be to one of three systems, to be chosen by you by vote. All seem to have implications of connections to my original creators and may yield important information, though I cannot be certain of which will be most valuable, if they are at all valuable. This journey should last us through the end of the Agra-10 spring and into its summer. Projected timelines of the readying of components under Ny Ak’s guidance mark our likely departure to be twenty days from now. After the portal there will be additional time in transit before our arrival. I will soon be sending you rough descriptions such as my records contain on where we might go. Please tell me privately which you prefer. I wish to leave the decision up to you.

I would ask for consultation with your Pilots and with any who might help finish the completion of the components faster if they are willing to work. Also I would happily speak with those who have other questions they would raise with me. If there are any supplies we might be able to give you, please speak and we will do our best to provide.

Thank you, my friends, for everything.

Comments

[agrii]

"Full House!" Ny Ak says in delight when they see the image of the robot. They bounce to their feet and rush over to a storage container in the room.

"I think means luck?" An Nu says, frowning. "Or win? Have used for both."

Ny Ak returns a moment later after opening the container, carrying with them one of the robots.

"After man flee, egg hunt. They are nice. Thought to make play mates for hatchlings," Ny Ak explains. "Can test programming here. The code is not complex in ways that make steel."

"Hard," An Nu corrects.

[thepurpleone]

Again Donnie is left blankly staring as Ny Ak runs off. Well, at least there's no doubting that the Agrii is feeling a lot better?

"I...think I understand the sentiment," he says carefully. "Oh! I was wondering why the count was off. Figured maybe something tried eating them."

He supposes he should have known the Agrii had helped themselves to it. And he can't help but smile wryly as he wonders how Doctor Eggman would respond if he knew that his security robots were going to be used as babysitters.

"They already have a signal that they give off, and ability to transmit. It just needs some adjustment for range, and if they're only going to be doing one thing instead of multitasking, it could extend their charge."

[agrii]

Well now they aren't being used as babysitters. Or maybe they were, in a whole other way.

"Use power pack," Ny Ak agrees, thinking. They pet the powered down construction before leaning back thoughtfully. At last they turn to Donnie and smile. "Shine windows for play."

Then they shake their head in frustration like the words got tangled again. Ny Ak speaks, at quite a serious length, in An Nu's direction and she watches intently before nodding.

"He says hear talk of pan els make power from sun. Think may be that charge... Stay shun? Yes, charge stay shun of pan els. Allow not need Agrii change bats. Bats re change?"

She seems confused in turning technical talk into He Row speech. But she really is trying.

[thepurpleone]

His smile becomes more and more strained as the two Agrii try to work out sentences. Augh, he's going to have a migraine by the end of this.

"Solar power, you mean. Yes, these have a supplementary system that will use solar power as charged by sunlight, and have a backup of the power rods if something happens to that before it can be recharged."

He points out things on the schematics.

"Meant for low maintenance needs, but it's still better to do some periodic checks to make sure they're all working properly. We can set them to check in so you don't have to go hunting each one down, they can come in at some time, although I advise not all at once, just to maintain a consistant signal presence out there."

[agrii]

No doubt he won't be the only one with a migraine. Ny Ak clearly had issues with communicating, but there was nothing to be done for it.

Still, Ny Ak is considering, and pulling up a map on another datapad. This looks to be an exciting form of collaboration for them. With two hands on their left they manipulate the map while their right hands skitter over the designs Donnie has presented.

"Possible make point for charge. External battery system, with fueling. Bring into the city for regular maintenance as a secondary goal. Perhaps interface with ship."

"I would be willing to provide additional interface and guidance for repairs should it be required," Venidelosia agreed immediately.

"Cheering," Ny Ak agrees before turning their eyes toward Donnie. "Much work doing. Start help now? Boost signal range?"

[thepurpleone]

"I'll write up additional coding for that," Donnie says, nodding. "There's some things that probably need to be added in anyway." Like making sure the robots don't accidentally trample any of the plant people.

"Once we get a secure signal established, that shouldn't be too difficult," he adds, glancing up at Venidelosia's input.

Looking back at Ny Ak, he smiles crookedly. Much work indeed. "Yeah, better to get on it now. I'll head back down and start. ...I don't suppose I could take one of the other shuttles we used to have? The ones you gave us to go between Temba and Sh'Ka won't be big enough to transport all the robots over to Temba."

[agrii]

Oh what an intriguing (and possibly cheeky) question. Yet another datapad comes out and Ny Ak types a quick series of commands into it.

"Take Huntress. Good space for storage. When finished unloading it will return to the ship here."

Because the Agrii themselves were going to need the ships for their own purposes, and the smaller shuttles assigned to those ships wasn't going to be enough for ferrying Agrii back and forth.

[thepurpleone]

It only seems logical! After thinking about it, he knows the cargo space is crap on the shuttles, so asking for a bigger one seems only practical.

"Sweet! I'll head down and get them loaded up and over to Temba as soon as possible." If he can just go straight to Sh'Ka then that'll certainly cut down on a trip. Maybe he can make the most of it and load up other things from Sh'Ka while he's there.

[agrii]

"Bring here first," Ny Ak suggests. "Team victory."

"Work to gather makes faster win," An Nu provides.

[thepurpleone]

"Here?" Well, Donnie supposes that would make better sense. And having extra hands (literally, even!) to do things would make it go faster. He's so used to handling things himself that the concept is almost foreign, but not unwelcome.

"Er. Right. Yeah. Okay then." It seems easier to not think too hard about what they say, but then that's exactly what makes it difficult.

"If that's all, I'll get going." Maybe Leo will want to tag along.

[agrii]

Ny Ak smiles widely and nods.

"Thank you, you are very helpful," Ny Ak notes in a moment of clarity. "I will see you soon."

[thepurpleone]

Donnie blinks, and then smiles back.

"See you soon, Ny Ak. An Nu," he adds with a nod towards the other Agrii as well before he turns to leave.

[agrii]

The two wave at Donnie as he leaves.

Just in time for a message to ping on his device from Venidelosia.

I am preparing a flight course for the ship in question. Thank you for your patience with Ny Ak. This is why one should not take multiple datapoints at once.

[thepurpleone]

Oh. Ohhhh that is kind of concerning. Donnie taps back on his tablet as he walks down the hall.

Ah, so that's why...

Thanks, Venidelosia. Hey, is it possible for me to set the ship for minimal control? It can stick to the main course, but like, just to go up and down and side to side a bit? My brother and I have always wanted to fly a ship and have been severely disappointed since we got here. ...and I just want to give him something to enjoy, for a change. It's been a rough few months.

[trpmods]

My records indicate that in his early experiments before the He Rows started to arrive, he attempted to see if uploading all relevant data would be possible. He started with two. I am given to understand that hacking the communications datapoint in while possessing engineering did nothing to hamper his intelligence, merely the efficacy of the communications datapoint. Thus his decision to not attempt further experimentation. Unfortunately the information can no longer be removed safely from him.

As for your jouney, this would be agreeable. However whoever does such maneuvering must still keep within a certain range of the flight path. In addition they must have the piloting datapoint.

[thepurpleone]

Donnie knows he would have tried to do something similar, if not for the fact that he had no clear understanding of how the alien technology worked until recently, and when it comes to matters of his brain, he's particularly cautious.

That's what's frustrating about all this data point nonsense, really. I understand the efficiency but nothing really beats learning things the old-fashioned way, from experience and study. But it's particularly annoying that the way the data points are set up somehow make such clean divisions between knowledge that otherwise would overlap. Like engineering and communication and piloting! You can't just...not know certain things without the others.

[trpmods]

I had not considered the overlap. However you saw the code. It is something I cannot edit, I cannot change. Even to make it safer. I fear in the process I might only hurt you more.

All I can do is recommend caution to you, my friend.

[thepurpleone]

Safer would have been to not have anything that directly jams information into your head, but I guess that was never an option...

[trpmods]

TO that I cannot speak. I am sorry.

[thepurpleone]

There's something that compels us to do things, sometimes. Go to specific places, touch the data point at the fountain- it doesn't happen a lot but it's not good. Do you know what it is?

[trpmods]

I can speak only to when the Agrii summon you to ships. That is a device here. I can disable it should you desire.

But I can only speak to that.

[thepurpleone]

I think it'd be appreciated all around, really. We don't need to be forced to the ships. People usually just give a head's up for things like that. Or you know, just ask, I guess?

How does that system even work?

[trpmods]

We will have to figure out how to ensure He Rows stick together, but yes, I will see the device disabled.

I cannot say how it works. Just that it is a subsystem I can activate without knowing how it functions.

[thepurpleone]

I guess buddy systems aren't entirely reliable. Too bad we don't have something to teleport us, but it seems like that tech is incredibly draining from what I was told by the Agrii.

Is that subsystem something I can have a look at?

[trpmods]

Very draining. My systems are required to go into minor shut downs when they are used. It is protocol to minimize number of simultaneous incoming or outgoing He Rows, or transferring of materials.

I cannot find the subsystem, but I recommend you look into the routines on my systems, or one of my sisters that I am installing upon your ships.