Analog, Digital, Transportation. Ira Sani and New Dover continue.
Next Post »
+ Show First Post
Total: 702
Posts Per Page:
Permalink

It's a while after that that Nimo shows up at New Dover on an invitation from Katherine.

Permalink

The Tea Social takes place in the sitting room of Katherine's relatively fancy house. Apart from herself and Nimo, Governor Valanda, Nathaniel the priest, two other notable Caralendri from the area, and two more citizens of New Dover are all invited. The vampire tech magnate was invited, as always, and declined, as always. (She even went so far as to offer freshly drawn this time. Hmph.)

The theme of the meeting, written onto the invitation in fine calligraphy, is 'how technology directs governance'.

"Welcome! I'm Katherine. I'm glad you could make it. Come in, come in!" She steps back. "I've been wanting to invite you to chat for a while - you're doing some very interesting things with technology."

Permalink

"It seems to me it'd be hard to do something with all this new technology that wasn't interesting. ...I don't know how this kind of meeting is supposed to work, though."

Permalink

"There's no set agenda or anything. It's a chance to discuss things with people who have interesting perspectives on the topic, perhaps to make business and social connections as well. I arrange the invitations and provide tea and snacks, and a theme for the discussion. I might suggest a change of topic or manners if something gets out of hand, but other than that, we simply discuss as we like."

Permalink

"Makes sense, I guess. How did they govern the place you came from, anyway? I heard it wasn't a democracy."

Permalink

Katherine's entry hall room is relatively simple, but spacious. "It was a constitutional monarchy! There was a King and Queen and a royal family, but there were also two lawmaking bodies, the House of Commons and the House of Lords. Power was shared between all three of those. Here we are."

And here is a warm sitting room with lots of good wooden furniture, a big round table, plush cushions, a tea set and plates of cookies and the like, and two other New Dovites. "Nimo, this is Nathaniel, our priest. And that is Lucille. She worked for the National Railway Office back home. Lucille, Nathaniel, this is Nimo, a computer programmer and home privacy expert from Anavel Sani."

Permalink

"What's a railway?" Nimo's hand goes hesitantly to her necklace but then she lets it drop. They'll want information for information, probably, not rings.

Permalink

"Good to meet ya, Nimo. The railroads are, like... Okay, y'know the automatons? Big machines that move themselves?"

Permalink

"Hard to miss those, yeah."

Permalink

"Railroads are those, but with wheels. And they can only go on tracks, which means between big expensive stations. But boy can they haul a lot of stuff, and fast. Almost totally obsolete given force mages, 'course, but the rails were a big part of our industry and changed the way commerce worked for us. Cheap land transit's great."

Permalink

"Oh. Yeah, I bet it'd be important for trade. Did your government run the railroads?"

Permalink

"Sort of a hybrid-y thing. There was a nationalized railroad company that turned a loss ev'ry year but the government wanted it to keep doing what it was doing, servin' the underprivlidged and the military and such. There were a bunch of private railroads too. Government put in safety and service standards after a few years when it was clear rails weren't goin' away. Wild days, ah..." She looks nostalgic.

"The railroads sped up the pace of life even more by connecting people from distant cities so much," Nathaniel comments. "I'm not sure what to think about that."

Permalink

"We have even more connection than that, if you have a knowledge mage and know what you're looking for. There are these groups, they usually have a shared hobby or craft or something, and when they want to let everyone in the group know that they're looking for work or something they just go out in public and say something that everyone in the group knows to have a knowledge mage search for and then explain themselves. I don't know if you've heard about those yet. They're not for anything you mind people overhearing, though."

Permalink

"Knowledge magic has been something I have needed to adapt to, yes," Nathaniel grimaces.

Katherine says, "There are no secrets if something is said in public - that was true even before."

"I suppose..."

Permalink

"Yeah, there's a reason looking for bugs is such a good gig. - I do that if you need someone, by the way."

Which is about when there's another knock.

Permalink

"Eh, who'd wanna spy on a simple railroad engineer-cum-automaton technician?"

Katherine says, "I'll be right back, everyone." And goes to greet whoever just arrived.

Permalink

It's Valanda and a caralendar, who happen to have gotten there at about the same time. The caralendar has a notebook with him just in case.

Permalink

"Valanda, Sonir! I'm glad you could make it. We're only waiting on two more now that you're here - Nurse Abernathy and Iralan Sorota. Do come in."

Permalink

Sonir glances around the room but avoids letting his gaze settle on any of the people. Valanda gives Nimo a quick look and a grin. Nimo looks back about as briefly.

"Nurse, huh? Are nurses involved in government or technology in New Dover?" asks Sonir.

Permalink

Katherine makes eye contact with whoever will meet it. This is New Dover's domain, her domain, in a way, and subtle social cues will reinforce that.

"Medical technology has advanced a lot recently, for us - no death magic, no structure magic. It was tragic how much people suffered for lack of medical care before the last fifty years or so. And I do like to have a variety of perspectives in the room. She is also qualified as a childrens' science teacher. Science being a formalized process of experimentation. This way, please. Sonir, have you ever had tea?"

Permalink

"Ah, of course, I can see why a nurse would have a lot to add to something like this. I haven't had tea yet, what is it?"

Permalink

"It's a beverage derived from a plant that contains a mild stimulant, which has less effect on caralendri but is not harmful. People like the taste - it's considered a luxury. Here, sit."

She introduces them to the rest of the table. The railroad engineer is discussing signalling protocol and how weird rigid schedules were at first.

"You should try some, this is a tea social, after all. There are varieties - Green, black, chai? I suppose you wouldn't know how to tell the difference yet." She smiles wryly.

Permalink

"Green is my favorite color, guess I'll try that one."

"Has it been growing okay here?" Valanda asks.

Permalink

"Green tea it is. We have to use the greenhouses, but- Oh! Greenhouses are interesting. I am a botanist, you know! They allow one to grow plants in unseasonable areas relatively easily. Most of the factors that matter to a plant can be controlled - nutrients, temperature, humidity. Even the quality and quantity of sunlight, with artificial lighting. It's rather a lot of effort, but it allows us to grow tea, spices, and a few tropical fruits that won't stand for this cold climate. From what I've gathered, farms don't tend to work that way here."

Permalink

"We can, Ira Sani's been doing that, it's just really easy to buy from anywhere."

"Oh, there are northern farms that protect their fall crops with temporary heat enchantments in the soil," says Sonir. "But that's in case of early frost, not to let them grow all winter."

Total: 702
Posts Per Page: