Nov 4th, 2352
With tiny floaters around Rik's shoulders for safety and Mushkin's ever-vigilant watch, the trio was along the edge of the central void of the hub, overlooking the abyss. The lack of railings always gave Richard a sense of unease, a reminder that something alien and unfathomable had built this sphere. Something aware of them eons ago, as proven by the station being locked in orbit with Earth even though that required it to orbit at tremendous speeds that should send it flying out of the solar system.
Since they were leaving the following day, there was no point in starting anything new. Today became a hygiene day.
Unlike colonists, the hair of Immortals was simply normal human hair and couldn't be controlled at will. Richard asked Brenda to apply her grooming skills, and they gathered around a small round white table overlooking the void. The table had a slender cylindrical base that seamlessly merged into the floor. Mushkin could have manipulated the nanobots in the air to do the task, but Richard preferred Brenda's touch.
Even as she stood behind him working on his hair, Richard continued grappling with comprehending the contents of a recording—directly from Magnus St. Sere himself. The message, filled to the brim with trinary computer system jargon, was incredibly dense. Words like 'trit' and 'tryte' were casually tossed around by Magnus, leaving no room for simplification. He assumed you could keep up and made no attempt to dumb things down.
Working in nanotechnology, Brenda often had to think in unconventional bases and data formats, so the message was less complex for her. However, she knew not to help Richard along. In order for him to fully comprehend, he had to understand it himself at every step along the way.
Brenda had always extolled Magnus's intellect, insinuating it equaled or perhaps even overshadowed her own—a considerable statement, considering her near-narcissistic self-regard for her cognitive prowess. Richard struggled to reconcile the image of the slender, pallid, diminutive man with platinum-blonde hair he had encountered almost a decade prior to his introduction to Brenda with the imposing intellectual giant her words described.
Richard found his initial shock at Magnus's appearance morph into admiration for the man's intellect. Magnus may not have been physically intimidating, but his intellectual prowess was evident. His words reflected a formidable understanding of trinary systems.
Richard skipped to the summary, "Try looking at it as multiple layers—three sets of three units of trinary digits, giving you 27 trit trytes, and with it, 7,625,597,484,987 possible values! The potential data density is colossal. I need to start investigating this technology, which will require studying your existing unit. I will journey there as soon as my affairs are in order."
Richard kept trying to digest that information, but his brain kept coming back to the fact that Magnus was coming here. He couldn't believe it. Magnus, who could not be bothered to be on the council and whom he had only met a handful of times in over 200 years despite their proximity and the limited number of Immortals.
This underscored the importance of what they were working on. The fact that Magnus was making time for their project gave Richard a heightened sense of validation and urgency. This was no longer a mere diversion from their existence—it was something with the potential to shake the very foundations of civilization. And with that thought, his mood soured. He had lived through three such pivotal events in societal evolution, and none of them had ended well.
These thoughts darkened Richard's mood, which Brenda noted. "What's with that scowl? Are you jealous of Magnus? You don't see me fretting about Ida," she quipped, her focus still on her cutting work.
Ida Kailani was the closest they had to a specialist in alien linguistics, a doctorate in linguistics who had spent much of her long life studying the vocal interactions of animals. Ida brought a unique perspective to the table. With a German father and a Hawaiian mother, her facial features bore a resemblance to Brenda's.
However, Richard had made the mistake of mentioning to Brenda, after a lower council meeting, how attractive he found Ida—even before she had reverted from old age. He had meant it as a sly compliment to Brenda, but she had latched onto it jealously and never let it go. Although the subject had rarely surfaced, it still left Richard feeling uneasy whenever she was involved.
Richard deflected the conversation. Undoubtedly, Magnus would bring Helena. And Ida might bring her husband, Fergus, and maybe their son, Leo.
He then firmly steered the discussion to his son, Rik. "How's your arm doing, little man?" he asked, examining the sizable but expertly nano-stitched scar. It would have been excruciatingly painful if it weren't for the advanced painkillers that blocked the pain receptors at the source but left the rest of the body unaffected.
Rik raised his arm and waved it in Richard's direction with a wide smile on his face but didn't say anything.
The incident had been critical in ending Richard's procrastination to have his son transformed into a colonist. In the quiet of the last two nights, he found himself wondering if Brenda had somehow orchestrated the accident. Regardless of its origins, once they returned to the colony and Janice had her way with him, the transformation would essentially render Richard nearly indestructible for 200 years. Intellectually, he knew that this more than doubled his likely lifespan, but somehow putting a firm clock on it made it feel like a devil's bargain. He already had one son he couldn't relate to.
After Brenda had finished his haircut, Richard couldn't help but let out a big grin. "We have to get Musk and maybe Liang out here," he said, excitement evident in his eyes. "We'll probably get a lot less done, but the fights will be the stuff of legends." He could almost picture the lively debates echoing through their dwelling, and the thought brought a hearty laugh to his lips.
As with most moments of his whimsy Brenda ignored him and sent a message to the colony to inform them of their upcoming journey. The family was headed back to the colony the following day to procure supplies, expecting to be gone for about five months. In her message, Brenda extended an open invitation to anyone who felt they could be of use and included the information they had collected thus far. She also mentioned a welcome for Ida and Magnus should they arrive before their return.
Richard and Brenda were optimistic about the potential breakthroughs they could make with Ida and Magnus involved in their project. They knew that both Ida and Magnus had unique skill sets that would be invaluable to their research, and having them on board could mean the difference between success and failure.
With everything ready, Richard and Brenda settled in to get a good night's sleep, knowing that the next day began 9 weeks together in much smaller quarters than they were used to.
In bed, Richard laughed and said to Brenda, "Can you imagine how slight Magnus and Ida's children would be? I bet you couldn't see them from some angles." Brenda gave him one of those looks that said, "You're an odd duck," and turned over to sleep. Whimsical thoughts weren't her forte, and she preferred to focus on what was real and practical.
Richard smiled to himself, knowing that Brenda was the yin to his yang. They complemented each other well, and their different skill sets made them an unstoppable team. He knew that together, they could accomplish great things.
With that, Richard settled in for the night, feeling grateful for Brenda's presence and excited for the journey ahead.
After five years in this place, it already felt more like a home than the colonies ever did to Richard. He was already looking forward to returning.
Richard reasoned that with a big enough JANKI, Rik could live here with most of the comforts of the colonies but without the stifling restrictions and hive mind. However, he knew that he'd eventually have to battle Brenda over this. He was going to need more children.