Mackenzie chuckled politely at Andrei’s joke. “Please, rich old men are my speciality. I’ve represented some division heads back home. Honestly it would make this whole thing seem a bit more normal.” She indicated for him to take a seat, before sitting across from him. “The issues going on are, unfortunate however you don’t need to worry about our potential involvement. Lorne is a company, we’re just here to do business that will benefit all the people back home.”
She clicked a button on a nearby tablet and a drone slid over, she keyed in a drink request then she signalled that Andrei could do the same by an interface on the drones arm. “Honestly with all that is going on I was surprised by you reaching out to us, we were going to give you some time before we made any formal introductions. So what can Lorne do for you today?”
“Oh, much. You will have heard about the Earth Cultural Union beforehand,” Andrei guessed, from her language. “Good. Then you may have also heard about our focus on-” he paused, considering how to phrase it “-holographic simulation?”
Mackenzie nodded “I’ve spent as much time before our meeting reading up on everything I can find about you available on the ships public network. I wouldn’t say I’m well versed, but I am aware of your work.”
Overachievers, Andrei thought,
I always hated them in school.. He had done no equal research on the Lorne, of course, but remembered what the Savant said. "Wonderful," he answered Mackenzie. "Good. You see, we are very glad to know you are a company. The ECU understands business. I have large shares in the entertainment industry, myself, and we have already heard that your people are skilled in spaceborne construction. Our allies were most impressed. That is why we wish to propose..."
It was not dramatic tension that made Andrei pause. At least, not after the first three seconds or so. Because it was then that Andrei noticed two things. The first was that there was nothing for his hands to fiddle with, which is a habit of his. But the second was that his hands also seemed determined to hover a little higher over his lap than they usually do, and this then led to the realization that his entire body, somehow, seemed... floatier.
The Oligarch moved his arms about slowly, staring at them and feeling how they don't move exactly right, before he recognized the sensation all at once. He had once been on the Listening Post when the gravity went down.
"I'm sorry," Andrei interrupted himself. "Is it just me, or is the gravity in this room a little lighter than it should be?"
Mackenzie chuckled. “Maybe for you it is, but if your people have lived in space since before the Gateways were built then it would be just right, artificial gravity wasn’t always as good as it is now and as such our bodies became used to lower gravity, we struggle in anything higher now. It’s part of why we never colonised Delta-4.”
For a moment, Andrei wondered if that makes them different from baseline humans. But then he remembered that the ECU is in a war with non-baseline humans because of that exact thinking, and decided to think about something else instead.
"I believe I've heard of your people before, then" he said. "In Academy, the process one must go through before joining the Noocracy," a process mostly for show, but he doesn't say this, "they teach us that some humans have lived in space since
before the Fall of Earth. It's part of why my people do not mind building space stations now. Keeping to tradition is, as it should be, very important for us." He paused for a moment, wishing there was wine he could mysteriously swirl in its glass. He should have taken that chance to get a drink earlier. "So you'll forgive the question: have you kept to it?" He meets her eyes. "To Old Earth, that is?"
Mackenzie nodded along as he explained some history she was aware off, and some she wasn't. "I'm sorry I don't quite understand your question, what do you mean by 'kept to Earth'? Our people don't live drastically different lives than those of our ancestors."
At this point, Andrei really did get a wine from the droid, and did swirl it mysteriously. (But alas, the moment was passed, and it didn’t have the effect he desired.) “Keeping to
Old Earth. At formal occasions like this, we would never just call her ‘Earth.’” Pause. Swallow. Decent wine, not very strong, but that might be for the better. Andrei is beginning to wonder if it’s all healthy. “Anyway, don’t mind it all,” he said. “It’s just the kind of question I’m expected to ask. Savant’s Orders. Back to business.”
He was unable to stop himself from downing the rest of the wine before continuing.
“The ECU is looking for trading partners. With the war between us and the Zetans slowing down, people are starting to think about other things. Like money. There’s no, what would you call it-” he snapped his fingers- “shared currency, between all the different nations, but there are other ways to pay. We specialize in media. If your people enjoy any kind of fun- games, films, plays, I don’t know,
musicals, then we can share ours with you.” As he gets comfortable speaking to this Mackenzie woman, Andrei was aware his speech was getting more casual. He only barely stopped himself from joking about the heavy propaganda that they’d be taking in with it. “Or, if you like the more solid stuff: we have metal. A lot of metal. Our whole planet was once covered with alien ruins, and we’ve been melting them down for centuries. It’s how we built our whole navy. And there’s plenty more.”
The man smiled. He’d see if they’re interested first, and then tell them what the ECU wants in exchange.
Mackenzie smiled. “Our people always value entertainment, its important to allow workers to relax after a day off work. Obviously any media would need to pass our review board that all media goes through however I shouldn’t think that would be a problem, and access to metals that simply need melted down and then smelted into something new again is also beneficial.” She took a sip off her own drink, as the drone busied itself in getting Andrei another one.
“Out of curiosity, you have had time between the first founding nations to build this station. How has no central exchange currency not already been established?”
Andrei paused. He was a little unused to thinking about politics very deeply, and so might have stayed paused for a while, before answering:
“They probably just haven’t gotten around to it yet. The Zetan Occupation began almost right after the Meeting Place was established. That leaves us, the Undefeated and the Zetans fighting, and all the other nations panicking about what to do about it.” He sighed. “Really, since the Meeting Place was founded, nobody has done much
meeting there at all. When this blows over, maybe we should all sit down and work out a currency, trade, all that. I’d bet the Lorne would have ideas.”
Mackenzie smiled. “That makes sense, hopefully going forward things can be much more productive in future. Now, to the business. What can Lorne do for the ECU?”
“Engineers,” Andrei said simply. “We don’t have any.” He cleared his throat. “Well, that’s not true. We have many skilled architects, and holo-suite experts, and all the others you expect in any functioning society. Plus all our great work on terraforming technologies. But we’re just not used to outer space in the way- in the way
your people are. We want to borrow your expertise, that is. Have you seen our Meeting Place addition? If the hologram emitters broke down, I think half of it would vanish.” He laughed. “Alright, that is a joke, but I think you get our dilemma.”
Mackenzie chuckled slightly. “Don’t worry, not all representatives lack a sense of humour. You’ll meet them in good time, and just wait till you meet the board. They’re a riot. In terms of your request that’s certainly something we can do, we have ships specifically designed for establishing orbital facilities. Mining outposts, storage depots, shipyards, defense stations. That kind of thing. Are you looking for just general spaceborne equipment or anything in particular?”
"Defense is our highest priority," Andrei recited, as it's what Heralds said eight or nine times, "but we're also looking to develop better methods for terraforming from space. That means we need to set up real, you know, research stations for the first time. Because..." He grinned. "Well, I guess you'll be the first to know." And now he leans in dramatically, dropping his voice to a whisper. "We're going to try bringing Earth back to life."
Mackenzie nodded along. “Certainly a noble and interesting prospect. We don’t know much about terraforming though I’m sure we can learn some things together. We certainly have the capability to create the stations.”
“Then we’ve got what we need!” Andrei declared. “Don’t worry, terraforming is our department. We’ve been doing it for decades.” There was no shortage of pride in that statement, but it wasn’t wrong. “The stations will need to be built around Earth, I’m told. To collect samples, or scan and measure things. The whole Meeting Place will see it. Give them something new to talk about, yeah? I propose a toast to that…”
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