Read Online Seeds of Earth by Michael Cobley - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Michael Cobley
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poor, Earthhungry colonists will want an ambassador from the auld country to look the part.'
Robert wagged a finger. 'What, play the lofty aristo come to dispense wisdom to the local yokels? Sorry, no - that's the Sendruka approach, not mine.'
'Shame on you, Robert, for denigrating the high ideals of our allies in the cause of peace and justice,' Llarry said, adopting a stance of mock grandeur followed by a sly grin. 'Besides, your honoured Senclruka colleague Kuros and his Ezgara goons are just along the corridor. Who knows how many spymotes are drifting around the ship by now, listening to our every word?"
'Not with the new antisurveillance systems the Earthsphere Navy brought in after the Freya incident,' Robert said, selecting from a small open section of the storage wall a pair of Russian leather gloves, a couple of plaid kerchiefs and a carved wooden ring. 'I'm more concerned about why they're here at all.'
The Heracles had been en route to the Huvuun Deepzone when new orders came through to divert to Chasulon, the capital world of Broltur, and take on board the honoured High Monitor Utavess Kuros and his unspecified personal guard. Which turned out to be eight Ezgara commandos, four-armed biped soldiers with a fearsome reputation, who wore all-enclosing, steel-blue body-armour and never revealed their faces. But Kuros and his guards were to be accorded every courtesy, since they were there at the personal request of Earthsphere President Erica Castiglione, apparently in a dual capacity: as Alliance advisers, and as observers on behalf of the Brolturan government.
Personal request*, he thought. I bet it was more like a demand and Erica was on the receiving end of it.
T don't imagine that there's much to be anxious about,' Harry said, resting his foot on the edge of a low table. 'The Hegemony thinks that it has to keep tabs on every political event otherwise things might fall apart, the centre cannot hold and so on. Whereas things would probably proceed quite normally if Hegemony attention was elsewhere.'
'Harry, for you that's practically heresy.'
'I know. I blame it on prolonged exposure to the life and works of Robert Horst! Anyway, it'll be politics on a rather lesser scale for you in the weeks ahead.'
'True, but it could turn out to be quite productive. One of the files sent from President Sundstrom's office gave an interesting summary of their resource management and extraction policies . . .'
'Ah, you mean these sifter roots that they got from the Uvovo?' Harry chuckled. 'Ingenious way of getting hold of pure elements, for a pre-nanofac society Properly adapted, they could be put to use in other or texts, like hardvac prospecting for example. Or even licensed out to cultures that prohibit nano applications.'
Robert shrugged. 'That sounds possible. I'm more interested in the relations between our people and the Uvovo, not to mention the colony's inner politics.'
'Well, for a small colony they've had a somewhat chequered history. Problems with a shipboard AI that went rogue, then a very tough first fifty years, expansion problems, lack of resources, then contact with these Uvovo sentients and an abortive civil war which exacerbated some already prickly divisions. But it's this Al taboo that could pose difficulties. You should read some of their novels and plays - artificial intelligences come across like the rampaging death machines of the Commodity Age. I find it positively insulting. What's more, every year they celebrate the trashing of that poor, dumb AI. Founders' Victory Day, they call it.'
'I agree, it's a problem, but I'm going to wait until I've experienced Darien culture first-hand before considering solutions.' Robert parted another tall section of the wall and touch-opened the units within. 'It's a matter of how to establish the notion of everyday, common place, benevolent AIs . . .'
As he reached in, almost absentmindedly, and pulled out one of the shallow drawers, he stopped and stared in
Robert wagged a finger. 'What, play the lofty aristo come to dispense wisdom to the local yokels? Sorry, no - that's the Sendruka approach, not mine.'
'Shame on you, Robert, for denigrating the high ideals of our allies in the cause of peace and justice,' Llarry said, adopting a stance of mock grandeur followed by a sly grin. 'Besides, your honoured Senclruka colleague Kuros and his Ezgara goons are just along the corridor. Who knows how many spymotes are drifting around the ship by now, listening to our every word?"
'Not with the new antisurveillance systems the Earthsphere Navy brought in after the Freya incident,' Robert said, selecting from a small open section of the storage wall a pair of Russian leather gloves, a couple of plaid kerchiefs and a carved wooden ring. 'I'm more concerned about why they're here at all.'
The Heracles had been en route to the Huvuun Deepzone when new orders came through to divert to Chasulon, the capital world of Broltur, and take on board the honoured High Monitor Utavess Kuros and his unspecified personal guard. Which turned out to be eight Ezgara commandos, four-armed biped soldiers with a fearsome reputation, who wore all-enclosing, steel-blue body-armour and never revealed their faces. But Kuros and his guards were to be accorded every courtesy, since they were there at the personal request of Earthsphere President Erica Castiglione, apparently in a dual capacity: as Alliance advisers, and as observers on behalf of the Brolturan government.
Personal request*, he thought. I bet it was more like a demand and Erica was on the receiving end of it.
T don't imagine that there's much to be anxious about,' Harry said, resting his foot on the edge of a low table. 'The Hegemony thinks that it has to keep tabs on every political event otherwise things might fall apart, the centre cannot hold and so on. Whereas things would probably proceed quite normally if Hegemony attention was elsewhere.'
'Harry, for you that's practically heresy.'
'I know. I blame it on prolonged exposure to the life and works of Robert Horst! Anyway, it'll be politics on a rather lesser scale for you in the weeks ahead.'
'True, but it could turn out to be quite productive. One of the files sent from President Sundstrom's office gave an interesting summary of their resource management and extraction policies . . .'
'Ah, you mean these sifter roots that they got from the Uvovo?' Harry chuckled. 'Ingenious way of getting hold of pure elements, for a pre-nanofac society Properly adapted, they could be put to use in other or texts, like hardvac prospecting for example. Or even licensed out to cultures that prohibit nano applications.'
Robert shrugged. 'That sounds possible. I'm more interested in the relations between our people and the Uvovo, not to mention the colony's inner politics.'
'Well, for a small colony they've had a somewhat chequered history. Problems with a shipboard AI that went rogue, then a very tough first fifty years, expansion problems, lack of resources, then contact with these Uvovo sentients and an abortive civil war which exacerbated some already prickly divisions. But it's this Al taboo that could pose difficulties. You should read some of their novels and plays - artificial intelligences come across like the rampaging death machines of the Commodity Age. I find it positively insulting. What's more, every year they celebrate the trashing of that poor, dumb AI. Founders' Victory Day, they call it.'
'I agree, it's a problem, but I'm going to wait until I've experienced Darien culture first-hand before considering solutions.' Robert parted another tall section of the wall and touch-opened the units within. 'It's a matter of how to establish the notion of everyday, common place, benevolent AIs . . .'
As he reached in, almost absentmindedly, and pulled out one of the shallow drawers, he stopped and stared in
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