"I am not an expert on the matter, but my understanding is that manual construction of enzymes is difficult, and the number necessary to influence flavor is large enough that any programming errors are greatly magnified in the resulting product. There is still active research being conducted into what phase of the replication process enzymes should be introduced. Many believe that the issue is that the enzymes do not have enough time to interact with their surroundings, but even the programs intended to allow for that are somewhat lacking."

"Medical grade replicators may be better equipped to produce accurate recreations, but they are substantially more resource intensive and their intended use is regarded as a higher priority."

"Intriguing! Can the technology only produce organic molecules? Does it produce micronutrients at all?"

"Of course. In slightly higher quantities than would be found in the original foods."

"Are there any particular limitations besides the complexity of certain molecules, then? Could it produce fissile material? True vacuum? Stable quantum singularities?"

"This particular one can create none of those things, there are some that produce fissile material. As far as I am aware, stable quantum singularities cannot be made in a replicator, but this is rather distant from my personal fields of expertise. I'm not certain what you mean by true vacuum, I'll need to ask some of our engineering staff."

"Fissile material is not in common use these days," Ocett muses, "it's a much less efficient power source than matter-antimatter reactions or quantum singularities, and any starship without proper radiation shielding will be lost long before it sees combat."

"Of course, I apologize for the distraction. I would find documentation on these sorts of technical specifications to be interesting and valuable, though, if you do not mind supplying it."

She looks a little unstable on her feet, but has managed to approach the replicator.

"I'll bring something with me in the morning, but for now we should discuss your options."

Ocett offers something of a masterclass in Cardassian cuisine, accompanied by the occasional taste test. Before too long the door opens and closes again as the workmen leave, their task complete.

R'vneh appreciates the opportunity for education and learning. And having a ready source of calories available. How is her room altered by this construction work?

The room now contains a bed, a small storage container for clothing, and a decent sized table with three chairs, in addition to the two larger chairs and the small side table that had been present before.

R'vneh rapidly avails herself of the opportunity to sit in a somewhat more comfortable chair.

"Is there anything else you would like to discuss? At some point I would like to acquire some more local context. A local book or newspaper, or historical summary. I'm sure you'd like the same regarding myself."

"I'll have my staff prepare some summaries and a collection of recent news for the morning. We've been working on getting more information on the period we believe you come from, but it has been slow in coming."

"I would love to hear about your world, as you remember it."

"Not a question I have had reason to consider in such terms before! Compared with what little I have seen of your planet, T'Khasi has lower humidity and brighter lights. Our staple foods have more oil and less starch than what you have served so far. The quality of this building and furniture would be very high for mass-manufactured products. I suspect I am noticing replicated components. The imperial palace sourced furniture from the best artisans of the last millennia, and I must admit this is a superior though less practical alternative. Of more personal relevance, we were making slow progress towards reducing starvation and war, but availability of political or economic positions of any significance was a diminishing resource. The primary purpose of the colony project was to broaden the scale of our extraction options for already-saturated resource reserves. A significant secondary goal was to provide more room for expansionary sorts of ambition."

"Much like why my own people first left our homeworld, it's only in the last century that nearly every citizen of the Union has had enough to eat. We have been without internal war for far longer, but in the modern galaxy, interplanetary conflict is far more common than one would like."

"As I recall, the bigger problem with industry on Vulcan was accessing the resources that existed, as they were much farther beneath the surface than is common on planets of the same grade. I understand leaving to find better situated materials, but my understanding is that the Watcher and the Watcher's Eye are both still quite resource rich, if not particularly comfortable. Had they already been colonized when you left? The archaeological record has been somewhat disturbed by all of the mining, and what about P'Jem? The monastery there was supposed to be nearly 3000 years old when it was destroyed shortly before Cardassians and Vulcans first made contact."

"Oh, metals are easier to extract from the moons, but specialists can pull as much ore as we needed for most industrial purposes even on T'Khasi itself. I was born significantly after we learned how to draw from the mantle, and metal hasn't been a concern since that technique was popularized. The major limitation was water, and our moons weren't any better off in that sense. Jaleyl was a geographically contiguous political body, in any case. The Watcher had around a twentieth of T'Khasi's population, and wasn't a better colony location than another continent would have been."

"The far radio array stations were all considered strong evidence for the viability of real colony missions, though P'Jem in particular wasn't really a great success. As the highest-water-mass world discovered, it was obviously optimistic data for other hypothetical planets. Having been ruled by Cthiist cultists for a thousand years was pessimistic data for the viability of long-term cultural stability. When was it destroyed? Have the modern Vulcans been involved in any interstellar wars?"

"Several. The monastery was destroyed roughly 200 years ago, as part of several centuries of conflict with another nearby species, the Andorians. They come from an ice moon quite close to your own system, although my own people would not have considered it to be habitable, far too cold. The planetary government of Vulcan engaged in several wars and skirmishes during the period, including one with the Romulan Empire, I'll see to it that this period is included in your summaries in the morning."

"Shortly after, they joined a regional alliance that grew into an interstellar government known as the United Federation of Planets, which the Union was briefly at war with twenty years ago."

"Are you not a Cthiist yourself? Most modern Vulcans follow an offshoot of Cthiism, although I don't believe any of the other related species do."

"Their ideas do not lack all merit, but they were not popular in Jaleyl, and I haven't found them personally compelling. They tend to clam to avoid internal bias, but also claim to reject subjective standards of value, claiming these to be equivalent. A handful of their techniques are useful, but what value they have produced is already integrated into standard neurology training. I follow the path of integration, myself."

Ocett laughs at this, "You have nicely summed the opinion the rest of the quadrant has on modern Vulcan philosophy. They are very self-important about it too."

"What is the path of integration?"

"I don't know whether these concepts still exist, if all of modern 'Vulcan' is governed by Cthia, but in my time we had as many as several governing philosophical concepts an individual might devote themselves to. Cthia was popular with mystics and rebels, but a more popular principle in the imperial family was Arivne, the principle of integration of all things. Arivne represents the unity underlying reality, with physics teaching us of the continuous gradient between matter and energy, and psionics teaching us of the direct link between mind and self and the world. As a personal virtue, it refers to incarnating and enforcing yourself as an entity with self and independence and the capacity to command your environment. I am happy to elaborate further on the subject, it is of personal significance to me."

"A beautiful sentiment, and an excellent perspective for a planetary leader."

"It is an honor for which I did make some efforts to be worthy."

"I am sorry that you have not had that opportunity. You have so far remained remarkably calm in some rather troubling circumstances, especially if our records are accurate that your people had not yet encountered alien life."

"Accurate. Alien life was certainly postulated. Alien contact, and alien contact with few resources, were both scenarios I consciously planned for. The most surprising aspect is actually how similar you seem, with underlying biology clearly similar enough for your doctor to treat me. But as for the troubling circumstances, I think I shall wait to mourn until I have seen what has become of my people in the time since."

"All descendants of your people seem quite proud of what they have accomplished. Although, it's hard to say how they will react to meeting you. That is part of why we're hoping you'll accept our hospitality for a while."

"I appreciate the chance to get my feet under me. I am sure the technological environment is very different from my experience, but I hope I will have some skills of value to trade."

Ocett shifts in her seat at the table uncomfortably, "And that would be the other part."