Captain Trishan Das continued gazing into the void of space, something that caused his lips to quirk up into a slight smile as he wondered whether Nietzsche would roll over in his grave or not. After all, he was definitely misusing the idea, despite space being just as endless as the abyss spoken of by the German philosopher. Still, he was in a philosophical mood and couldn’t help but think back on all of his struggles growing up poor in rural India. In fact, if it weren’t for the efforts of Jai Chakrabarti, the Coeus Foundation’s CEO, he would still be living in a mud hut with a rusty corrugated steel roof over his head. So Captain Das had good reason to be thankful for the Terran Empire, as it had personally uplifted both him and his family.His mother, father, and little sister were some of the first to design their home in a fortress city, and Trishan himself was here, the captain of one of the largest spaceships ever built. He had to admit that, if his younger self knew where he
Aron had decided to handle the solar resources like that because he believed that only the empire would have the capability to swallow such gains without harming itself. Any private sector enterprise given the vast mineral rights to the entire solar system would cut corners to increase profits, which wouldn’t be beneficial to the fledgling economy in the least. He had learned of the dangers of monopolies from history, with shining examples like the Rockefeller family highlighting the path that he should definitely not take.In fact, he had even gone so far as to take a page from communism, insofar as everything not specifically recognized as private property—like privately owned land on Earth—had been designated as property of the empire. So while asteroid miners may own their own mining ships, they had to request mineral rights from the empire. Prospecting could be done within limits, but in order to exploit their finds, they would require a permit from the imperial resources agency.
“You’re right,” Aron said with a smile. “Both in that it isn’t complete, and that there’s still two parts missing.”{What’re the other two parts? I can’t find anything that looks like it would fit this segment in my knowledgebase,} Nova asked. For the first time in a long time, she was unable to comprehend Aron’s thought processes. She had a few theories, but she wasn’t confident in any of them; they were all equally likely, or equally unlikely as the case may be.Aron went still for a moment, then, with a grunt, rose from his chair. He paced around the room with his hands behind his back, as if he was a wise old sage about to give advice or perhaps an anecdote about his earlier life. It was a fair comparison, too, as his mental age was far, far beyond his physical age due to spending so much time in the time-dilated environment that was the universal simulation.“After the initialization of Project Loki, I, and everyone else in my inner circle, came to the conclusion that everything
[Organic computing, tier 1Drawing inspiration from the remarkable complexity and efficiency of their species’ biology, the *************** combated the lack of mineral resources on their homeworld by branching computing into a different path. Instead of using silicon and metals, they discovered the ability of DNA base pairs to store information and developed a system of computing around that, creating complex and powerful computers from their own DNA. It was the final step that allowed them to become an interplanetary civilization, ruling over vast swathes of their home galaxy until they fell at the hands of the **************.Price: 178,000,000,000sp][Runic computing, tier 1*****, a former noble of a race enslaved by their technologically superior neighbors, took a side path upon his discovery of the fundamental runes that underpin all of creation. Knowing that he couldn’t trust his fellow slaves, as many quislings and traitors were among them and he had no way of distinguishing
While Aron was assimilating the new knowledges and deep in Nova’s medically induced coma, the top minds in the imperial space agency were in a meeting with Styx, the AI that headed up both the TSF and their agency.“How reliable is this?” Dr. Musa Aminu, the head of the ISA, asked as he blinked the holographic file displayed in his glasses closed.“We’re 95% confident, sir. Some time within the next week, another Carrington event is expected to take place. And based on the sunspots we observed along with the increase in solar winds, we believe it’ll absolutely dwarf the event from 1869. The most damning piece of evidence we have is that it’s happening off season.“Normally, the Sun acts up on a predictable eleven-year cycle, and the last solar maximum was only five years ago, so—”“It wasn’t 1869,” Agency Head Aminu calmly said. “It was -149 BE.”“I’m not sure that’s relevant, sir,” the researcher said. “A change in calendar doesn’t mea—”“It means exactly what it means, Doctor Yao. I
John turned to Nyx and said, “Continue. What’re you trying to say?”{I’m saying we should keep the shield in its passive mode and allow the Carrington event to happen,} she said in her trademark disinterested tone.“Why should we do that?” Dr. Aminu said, a look of shock still lingering on his face. Was he on the ground floor of an AI apocalypse? A bead of cold sweat dripped down from his temple as he fruitlessly tried to rein in his emotions.{A few reasons, actually,} Nyx said. She paused and looked around the room before continuing, {Other than the people in this room and His Imperial Majesty, no one knows that the planetary defense shield even exists in the first place. It’s always been in its passive mode, making it invisible to everyone. Bringing it to full strength will reveal it, making its existence a matter of public record.{That wouldn’t be a problem, but there’s no need to reveal our trump card like that. After all, a trump card our enemies know about isn’t very useful, n
“For god’s sake, I just woke up!” Aron grumbled. He hadn’t even been awake for an hour before Gaia and Nova had dragged him back into the simulation for a briefing on the upcoming Carrington event.{The situation is critical, Your Majesty. So there’s no time to waste, since we’ll need to respond to the situation as early as possible, depending on your approval,} Gaia said. She knew that Aron was still feeling lethargic after coming out of his induced coma, especially since he was still dedicating a portion of his mind to sorting the new knowledge that had been downloaded into him.“What is it with shit always happening when I’m out of commission? What kind of bullshit is that?” Aron continued grumbling as Nova massaged his headache away. Still, his briefing had been thorough and included the options presented to him by the people in the earlier meeting.{It’s the opposite, sir. Things are always happening, but while you’re ‘in commission’, they immediately get dealt with. It’s only wh
“Just can’t catch a fucking break,” a man sighed, looking at the sky. His sentiments were shared by almost everyone on Earth; Minister Rogers’ staff had released news of the incoming celestial catastrophe mere minutes before.The current populace of Earth, both imperial citizens and noncitizens alike, were becoming numb to world-ending situations. The emergency broadcast notification sound had been heard so often that most people considered it no more important than the beeping of an alarm clock that woke them for work in the morning.That was partly due to the frequency with which it sounded, but the greater reason for peoples’ eerie calm was that the empire would either have long been prepared for the emergencies, or there would be time for them to prepare a solution. Thus, they took the announcements in stride, confident that the empire would solve all of their problems before they became problems at all.......As everything urgent had been dealt with, Aron had returned to his lab