Specor's Hub is the primary administrative level of the city, and as such people can be seen moving about at all hours, during which the lights are kept on. Administrative offices are built into the arcology structure itself, in some cases being 'buildings' that spawn several stories in height.
The height of the hubs is approximately 500 feet, in an attempt to make the city feel less cramped.
Today the room is one that has a conference table with tablets at each location. Christopher, the historian, is the one waiting today.
Kethren comes walking in, roughly on a path to the conference table. There's a calico ser on his shoulder flitting about as she does, a penguin at his side, and the cranky guard is bringing up the rear, wearing what looks to be a necklace with a large almost decently formed macrame owl on it.
Leucohyle comes padding right in, without watching where she's going and yet unerringly avoiding chairs, walls, or other people. She is busily consulting both a datapad and some manner of scrolling readout on her holo-specs and is accompanied by her usual cadre of robots. Omicron, the security bot, has been divested of his stun cartridge; the spiral-shuttered aperture it usually lurks behind hangs forlornly open, making the poor 'bot look as though he's either surprised or offended by just about everything. The little clone pauses in her soft, fluting murmurs to herself long enough to unsling a hinged polycarbonate box from her belt, setting it on the table, opening it, and activating the holoprojector inside. Up comes the data. "S-so, er, here's what I've discovered so far, as well as the er accompanying analytics, molecular sampling tests, evolutionary theorems and what in in the name of Pythagoras are you wearing, sir?" This last bit appears to be directed at cranky guard, as Leu's eyes come into focus just in time to see the macrame owl. Sadly she does not have the presence of mind to make some manner of "The 1980s called" joke. She does, however, blink quite owlishly.
"Perhaps you can explain to me what some of that means." Christopher says to Leucohyle. Then he pushes a few buttons on a tablet of his own, then says to Kethren. "I'm taking a chance that you might happen to know something. I found some files that may be of interest in the archives. I don't have the background to know exactly what it means, so I was hoping you could look while I have the science explained to me. Slowly." he motions to one of the chairs near Kethren, "You should be able to sit there and see them."
Kethren chuckles as he takes a seat and begins perusing the files "Well, I'll help as much as I can." Wark!
Leucohyle blinks several times, then a few times more as her mind almost palpably shifts gears from 'talking to Science people' to 'talking to ordinary people'. "Oh. Er. Well okay. Errr... this chart here, details in a time line how the technology we studied... improved, over time." Her nose wriggles, rabbitlike, before she continues. "And... well. This is a... wave graph that explains the low-intrusion, that is a er gentle scan, of the items, and tracks what kinds of elements were found, and the... amounts, in percentage order, of the elements... and well that last document there with the analysis in it is basically a... review of the results and what conclusions -could- be drawn from the results, laid out in most likely to least likely order?" She fiddles her fingers together, looking hopeful.
"I'll have to pass it off to someone who knows their research on that topic. I usually catalogue artifacts. If you know anything about the electronics, that would be useful. I might be able to understand that. At least in a historical context." Christopher says, seeming a bit lost as Leu explains things to him.
Kethren settles in to give those documents a good thorough perusal, one hand making an oft used gesture to push up his glasses. The ones he stopped wearing years ago thanks to new eyes. "Hrm... Well, this is just from a first look at things, but a couple of things are jumping out. A lot of these funds are going to a few families, many times, under the nebulous heading of 'operational stability'." Yes, Keth does make the air quotes for that one. "Much of the rest seems to be fairnly normal R&D funding... Oh, and it looks like Svajone has been manipulating the Nodina economic situation for... well, not an insubstantial period."
Leucohyle really does look genuinely distressed that she's having a hard time dialing the Science talk back enough. "Er... Well, okay... let me... show you." She fiddles her fingers together for a bit and then 'grabs' the holodisplay of the artifact scans, 'stretching' it out to reveal the whole line of images, which has been very neatly organized by timeline. "If you look at the progression here, here, and here... and then... here's a er... similar time progression with Sivadian technology from the same approximate civilisational period..." She pulls up another string of images to put below it. "You're missing several, er, object phases? Like, see here how there are vacuum tubes and other sorts of technology? They are absent in the Nodina... time line." Christopher gets another plaintive look.
"You would have expected us to find something earlier. We've been able to catalogue just about everything from almost every era. Actually, we have problems with keeping track of everything, but there are no earlier electronics than the ones you saw." Christopher says. Then he looks at Kethren. "The economic manipulation? I wouldn't put it past Nodina Operations to have a finance section. Then again, when I was in Operations it was usually go down to the planet, fill a ship with artifacts, come back, then do it again in a week only to find that for the Nodina it was a few decades. Who was receiving the money? The Nodina don't have a nobility, per se, but for the most part a relatively small number of oligarchic families are in charge."
Kethren taps a few names as he gives that spreadsheet another quick look "Well, assuming this document isn't fabricated... and it's awfully thorough if it was... it looks to have been the Battaglia, Lasnier, and Viel families. Not that the names ring any bells for me."
Leucohyle inspects a seat, and then carefully sits down, folding her hands primly in her lap and allowing the infodump to be absorbed. She squints for a bit at the financial talk, apparently that's somewhat out of her idiom. "Er. Well, not being able to keep track of things is detrimental to research," she offers, "However sometimes we we can extrapolate useful information by... er... looking at what is -not- present?"
"I suppose that is possible." Christopher says to Leu. "I will say that on my visits I never saw any signs of any previous electronics, not even in places like pawn shops or places that sell used items." then his eyes widen a bit as he considers Kethren's observations. "They wouldn't to you, but they are three major Nodina families. Nearly unstoppable on their planet, really, with the amount of money they have at their disposal. Now we know why nothing was able to dislodge them, at least." he sighs, "What you really need is someone high ranking in Operations, but not even the Minister can get real access to them."
Kethren nods as he reaches up to scratch Floriana "Makes sense."
Leucohyle's smooth brow furrows. "...nothing earlier... that is... well that's a bit -odd- to me, er... is is that not a bit -odd- to anyone else? Do you er, do you suppose, much with the er, funding and etcetera, that someone had provided er... seed technology, perhaps?"
"I think it is possible." Christopher says to Leu. "Though somehow I suspect someone above my pay grade has actual answers. I suppose the question is, well, if we know about the manipulation and seeded technology... what now?"
Kethren nods thoughtfully "'tis a fine question."
"Well," Leucohyle pipes, a bit primly, "Depending on... how high on the pay grade the person or persons are who are most interested in the answers as to the Nodina's 'hows' and 'whys', we may need the answers to these questions before we can answer theirs. And and well I've been told I'm not terribly -adept- at talking to people, regardless of pay grades." Sniff.
"This is the Minister's project." Christopher says. "Or Minister Chirc's, rather. She's the highest placed Nodina on Fortrain. Still, she wants to know why they were created the way they were. I know where my people came from. I'm sure you two probably know. They don't." then he looks down at his tablet, "Actually, there are a lot of things that confuse me about the whole thing. If they wanted soldiers quickly, they could have just made short-term clones. If they wanted to replenish humanity, the Svajone has an entire database of tens of thousands of DNA samples to work with. Yet they chose to create something different, invest heavily in it and not give any answers as to why."
Kethren nods "Well, caprice is unlikely to be the motive. Possibly whoever started this wanted to leave their mark on the universe."
Leucohyle utters a few mildly affronted 'pip' noises. "But but that -can't- be the only reason why one would make something er, this complex, this detailed, this... apparently -expensive-, just to er, make a mark? Just because they -could-, just to show... oh look at me I am so awesome I can do these things. That would be juvenile grandstanding, sort of -beneath- anyone capable of doing such a thing to to begin with."
Christopher laughs slightly at Leucohyle's explanation. "Right. Why this way though? I don't know genetics, but I know they're ordinary humans with psi-negativity. Why this culture of oligarchic rule?"
Kethren shrugs "I'm making no claims that it's the entirety of the motive, just that it wouldn't surprise me if showing off a bit was part of it. A lot of humans never fully get past that. The culture of oligarchic rule though... any number of explenations. A few ruthless businessmen who grew their holdings faster than the rest and pass the business down to their descendents is one option."
Leucohyle smiles in a sort of wobbly fashion, apparently pleased that she is being amusing. "Er well oligarchy's not always rule by the rich, but... can be rule by the privileged, and can either be ruthless or benign so well there may not have been a particular -reason- for those particular houses in charge..." She fiddles her fingers together, thoughtfully, looking for patterns in the data (as human/humanoid nature do not appear to be anywhere near any forte of hers) "...perhaps they just took the 'small group government' by the... proverbial reins? Unfortunately if if they're in charge, as it were, and don't -want- it to be known how and why they came into this power... we may not be able to to tease that particular information out."
"Not just that. They're the ones with the most enhancements to their body too. They developed human enhancement technology quite well." Christopher says. "They live longer, are smarter, more physically able." then he looks at Leu, "Though I imagine you know quite a bit about that."
Kethren nods "Well, those enhancements would certainly aid in keeping a hold of the political power."
Leucohyle nods agreeably. "Absolutely! And and well Father -has- been returned safely to to er, this end of the multiverse but..." She crinkles her nose. "...he's not going to be -available- for a er, for a time. It has been reported that he is in a state of recovery from the assorted incidents and will be... indisposed." There are some pretty heavy air-quotes around most of that. She cants her head to the side, recovering from her almost teenage-level parent-embarassment rather quickly. "...so some of the, Nodina, are are more enhanced then others?"
"Well, from the data we have, most of them aren't enhanced at all. They aren't cheap procedures." Christopher explains. "That and most of the high end enhancements are subtle or invisible to an eye. You won't see them running around with metal all over them, they would consider that too far against their aesthetic." Kethren, Leucohyle, and Christopher (the historian) are in a conference room in the SCRI section of the city.
Kethren nods "Stands to reason. Why flaunt your apparent superiority?" Floriana chitters amusedly from Keth's shoulder, and a little ways back is Butch, who's wearing a necklace with a macrame owl on it, who pulls out some yarn and starts making another something or other.
Leucohyle does the little disapproving-rabbit crinkle again. "Because it's -tacky-," she pipes, like that's ever, in the history of any civilization anywhere, dissuaded anyone with more money than sense. "So... well this is interesting all right... so so we've sort of, got this ruling class, who are being provided with all of this funding, if if I'm interpreting what you've extrapolated correctly, Mister-Kethren? So these are your ruling class, as defined, and they are... well here's a bit of chicken and egg, if I am applying the correct metaphor, are they ruling because they are enhanced and powerful and have the credits, or are they all of these things simply -because- they are in charge?"
"Well, there are newer noble families. Like the Minister's." Christopher explains. "They're less than a century old. Which means there is some way to enter that class."
Kethren nods "Well, blackmail's always been a popular option. Could be the reason the funds are being funneled towards those families to begin with. Not making any accusations, mind. Just considering the options."
Leucohyle has taken out her datapad, and is apparently drawing some manner of relationship chart of some kind. "Er... all right, so, is she forthcoming as to as to how the family managed that? So that would mean that prior to to their reclassification, they were unenhanced? If I'm I'm observing this correctly?"
"I wouldn't know." Christopher admits. "You would have to ask her yourself. We're still not at the point where we can keep track of all the families. Keep in mind, there are probably thousands of these families. Actually, there are probably more families than we have people on this planet who are suitably trained to understand them and place them in the proper context."
Kethren taps the table idly as he thinks "So it's the proverbial piece of hay in an enormous stack of needles."
Leucohyle looks up from her chart. "...I'm rather not good with biologic demographics. There are probably s-some conclusions we can put together with... er... yes. People who are suitably trained to understand, track, etcetera."
"Well, it all comes back to 'why?'" Christopher says. "Perhaps the Minister will be more able to answer questions about life in that culture." then he pauses and adds drily, "Or just check the newer residential areas. There's been some emigration, especially to Fortrain City. Maybe a big sign asking them to take a survey will help." then he laughs slightly, "...that was a joke."
Kethren drums his fingers a bit more. "Indeed. Why? It feels like the more we ponder, the more whys we have unanswered. Why did they come to power? Why is the money going to these families? What came first? Why is everything so buried? And so forth."
Leucohyle perks up. "Oh! A survey? Do you do you think we could... ohhh." She looks a little crestfallen, but gives a few reserved 'pips' at the joke. "I I see, you were er, making a -whimsy-." There are a few blinks. "...do you suppose they might be interested in a survey? It it would make things more convenient than er... talking to, large quantities of people."
"I'll see what I can do about a survey." Christopher replies. "That much should be possible. Keep in mind you will be asking the non-elite, for the most part. Most of the family members are satisfied with their life never travelling offworld. Those who see potential outside of their home are more likely to be the ones you would be asking."
Kethren nods "Still, properly written it'll provide some insight to the culture. Hardly a guarantee, but it may produce some leads."
Leucohyle shifts a little bit in her seat. "Er well you and er, you and Doctor-Aina and and perhaps Miss-Sarenity can handle that sort of thing I er... I mean I can look at data patterns but organic behaviours so rarely follow significant patterns, and well you know you're all... better at talking to people... Oh! Perhaps if I can, if I can locate Mister-Wu, if if he's all right... I mean he -likes- talking to people, so there we go I'll er redouble my efforts to locate him there..." Wow. You could power a small piece of farm equipment with the kinetic force of that eyedart.
"We can probably work with that." Christopher says. "Hm. I don't know if there's anything else we can do right now, it seems we're reliant on asking others the right questions at this point. At least we can begin to fill in some historical blanks."
Kethren stretches "It's a bit of an impasse right now, alright."
"Definitely not my field," Leucohyle pipes, very agreeably. "If we've got any more devices to look at, I am... what's the turn of phrase, 'all ears'? Rather silly, really, but I suppose the language abides. And well maybe we can have Minister Chirc around for tea at some point and fill in a few of these blanks, I can talk to her, she's delightful."
"I don't have any others tonight, no." Christopher says.