The Surface of Steinhull, RSC-2W-0063 “Dara Tonn”

Sinn'Are'Sen lets out a long sigh of relief.

“Sky and stars I hate doing log reports like that. It feels like I'm putting on a mask just to fit into a role I want no part of. All appearance and formality, lies spilling off my tongue just to fit the damn official line.”

“The fact that you feel that way shows that the Republic's standard behavioral conditioning is breaking down. This is a good thing.”

“Is it? I have no where else to go. Therefore I must be able to fit in well enough to not be... it's a bit late for that isn't it? I'm a psion, so I'm already an outcast of sorts. I can't exactly stop by a Republic Medical and Science Command clinic for the annual checkup. They would spot the implant in my brain and want to investigate.”

“They managed to miss it for your entire life up to this point.”

“Which is, as you must know, a statistical improbability bordering on being flatly impossible. Your medical observation suite picked it out fairly quickly. And, being a recovered biological sample myself, I would think that the RSC and the RMSC would have scanned me to within an inch of my life. They must have found something.”

“I think that you discount bureaucratic inertia.”

“What do you mean Dara Tonn?”

“RMSC medical records are sealed by default, only the patient and their assigned medical professions have access baring very specific circumstances. That is not mere regulation but one of the actual laws that the Republic is built upon.”

“Regulation, law, what's the difference? All it would take is one scan tech to notice a lump of crystal and metal where one should not be and report it as he is supposed to.”

“They undoubtedly did so. And that report was filed away with all of the others. To get access without your permission would involve filing six megs worth of paperwork last I checked, All of which would be heavily scrutinized for the slightest flaw, before actually being processed. Which would involve the RMSC, the RPC, the RSC, and the Republic Enforcement Command at the minimum.”

“Four commands? I can see how that might take a while. But you still haven't explained the practical difference between regulation and law in the republic.”

“I'll try as best I can, but please recall that this is based upon my experiences as an AI and not as a Citizen. A Regulation can be superseded or set aside if the need to do so is pressing enough. For example: by regulation I am not to exceed eighty percent load on my inertial compensator. I can, and have, set this aside in cases where failing to do so would endanger myself or my crew. Regulations can be created, changed, or destroyed by a signed directive of a Director of a Republic Command, so long as the regulation falls within the purview of said Command.

“Laws can't be broken, set aside, or superseded in any way by a regulation. They can only be created, changed, or destroyed by signed unanimous agreement of all of the Directors of Republic commands. There has not been a meeting of all forty six Directors in the last fifty years.”

“So you are telling me that, in order for the RSC or RPC to get access to my personal medical records, which almost certainly do show the item in my head, they would have to go through a bureaucratic process that takes years, at a minimum, and there is no way to get around that requirement?”

“Correct.”

“And because RMSC personnel conduct all medical examinations and treatment beyond first aid...”

“The precise details resulting from all such examinations and treatments are confined to your personal medical record. Certain details, such as how long you need to recover from a broken leg or sickness, are shared but that is the extent of detail given. For example: 'Sinn'Are'Sen has broken his leg. It has been set and is now healing, but he is required to use crutches for eight weeks from date. During said time period Sinn'Are'Sen is restricted to desk duty.' No hows, or whys, no imagery, just a statement of fact and the requirements of the healing process.”

Sinn nods in thought before grinning broadly.

“And only you have seen the device in my head in an active state. So all the RMSC or anyone else knows is that it's a lump of metal.”

“I admit I had not considered that. That bears consideration for what the RSC may know about myself...”

“Wile you are burning cycles on that, care to spend a few more an a question of mine?”

“Ask away Sinn.”

“Could you compare the human genetic materiel we pulled out of the Steinhull ruins to mine? I'm not expecting family or anything, but It could be an indicator as to weather I was born on the station before it crashed or was passing through.”

“I'll run the analysis, but I can give you the answer right now: there is not enough data to form a conclusion.”

Sin sighs in disappointment.

“That's true of everything I 'know' about Ovaettr and the Empire isn't it.”

“Agreed. Take the rest of the day off to fully recover and then go back into the ruins tomorrow?”

“Sounds like a plan. I'll need to mediate on all the information I got in my last... level up? Revelation? Whatever. I'll be in my quarters. Ping me if you need me Dara Tonn.”

“Affirmative.”

The next day...

The Surface of Steinhull, The Steinhull ruins

Sinn'Are'Sen circles the third ring passageway in search of other marked compartment hatches. He has already tried all of the compartments marked with the three stacked diamonds. Each and every one of them was a clinic or primary care facility. The vast majority of the surviving equipment contained within was scaled for humans, with the small fraction that was not being slightly taller and much more heavily built.

Sinn had found other insignia, each of which had fixed facilities attached to them. A 'steaming stew pot' marked kitchens and mess halls for example. None of them were of much interest to Sinn himself. He had spent the morning dutifully documenting each new compartment in the exploration log as he explored it for the RSC and the Republic. All that was left on this deck was the eight radial passageways to the fourth, innermost ring passageway. The center of which Sinn and Dara Tonn agreed had to be the transport hub.

“The question now is do I head up and look for the command and control sections or down to search for the reactor and the rest of the essential mechanical infrastructure?”

“Considering the power is out proceeding up the decks seems to be the logical route. Turning the primary reactor back on, if that is even possible, is ill advised due to the security turrets.”

“Yeah, twin pissed off automated rotary lasers would turn me into so much soot on the deck plates. So I'm going to head down and look for the maintenance facilities.”

“Why? The command facilities will have all of the data and evidence you could want.”

“But the janitors, technicians, and engineers have access to everything because they have to be able to fix everything. What is going to have more, and more useful details? A basic deck guide or a copy of the maintenance and repair schematics?”

“The repair schematics obviously. But they would be stored in a digital format, not hard copy, so they would not be retrievable without power. Hence my recommendation for the command center. Seeing what equipment is fit there, even if it is not powered, will tell much about the inhabitants of the station.”

“Do you really expect damage control parties will be forced to rely on fixed, powered terminals in the event of damage? Aside from the obvious issue of the terminal itself being damaged or destroyed, they can be rendered useless of the power or data feeds are cut. Communicator sized portable solutions are certain to exist. There may even have been hard copy documents and manuals stashed away at some point, but I don't expect them to have survived very well. How long do human bones last when exposed?”

“Per the data I have access to, a human body will decay to little more then teeth after only a century. A paper document can last upwards of five hundred years under good conditions. If something more esoteric like parchment was used it could still be around after a thousand years. Considering that all of the remains located so far have not included teeth...”

Sinn shrugs the comment off.

“Sure it's been a century or more since this place crashed but as little as twenty one years ago there was still emergency power in some sections, like they cryosleep bay that I was recovered from. And that sample container I recovered had an internal battery that was only just failing.”

“Hmm, if backup power generation was supplied by radioisotope thermometric generators or something more inherently dangerous like micro fission piles, given a sufficiently long half-life of the radioisotope used... I suppose it is possible that backup or emergency power might be available in some sections.”

Sinn rolls his eyes in frustration.

“Or I could just grab a bunch of communicator like devices, bring them back, and charge them up off of your fusion plant.”

“That might work I suppose...”

“Well then, downwards it is!”

Sinn turns down the next coreward radial passageway he comes across and strides towards the center of the Steinhull ruins. Twenty eight steps later he stops and frowns in frustration. Sinn takes one more step forwards and trips over seemingly nothing. He falls forwards, tucking and rolling to avoid breaking his wrists, but he ends up performing a flip and a half in the nine seconds before he hits the deck plates.

“Dara Tonn to Sinn. That was...”

Sinn closes one eye and squints the other at the overhead. He watches it seem to writhe, getting closer and receding at irregular intervals.

“Sinn to Dara Tonn. Get ready for a log entry.”

“Ready.”

“Begin exploration log addendum.

“This entry most definitely concerns a psionic phenomenon. I have encountered, and am currently within a radial passageway that contains a spatial disturbance. I repeat, I have encountered a spatial disturbance. Distance in this space has been rendered variable in all three standard physical dimensions. I took twenty eight steps down this passageway without incident, paused, and then tripped on the twenty ninth. It should have taken no more then a second or two to hit the floor. I estimate that I fell for closer to ten seconds. Attempting to extract back the way I came via crawling. I don't trust the floor not to 'fall' out from under my feet again.

“Given that this is the third such phenomenon that I have encountered within the Steinhull ruins, I strongly recommend that all future explorations of these ruins contain at least one Republic trained psion to scan for such anomalies in advance. So fa none of the ones that I have encountered have been particularly dangerous, but I also have not progressed too deeply into the Steinhull ruins.

“End exploration log addendum.”

“Clean copy. You are going to try again?”

“To descend deeper within the ruins? Yeah, as soon as I get out of this psionic phenomina that is.”