FJ Irene Talk Part 2

	Arkalest	"YOu don't see much of it, but the leftovers are enough to cause shivers down your spine.." She joins her hands and leans back, waiting for you to speak.
	Sabina	"And those shivers were enough to further enflame your interest in xenoarchology?"
	Arkalest	She nods.
	Sabina	"So what of the paintings then? Are you not afraid of what they could do to you?"
	Arkalest	"There's always a risk involved in this kind of stuff. " She looks down. "That, and the........"
	Arkalest	"The truly heinous stuff, it...Doesn't really end up in the hands of privates.." A few strands of blue work into her thought.
	Sabina	"But there's always that risk." Sabina contemplates her tea "Not that I am attempting to criticize you, rather I find it admirable of you. I'm not sure that I myself would willingly seek these sorts of things out."
	Arkalest	She shrugs. "I don't feel it's necessarily more dangerous than a few other fields of study."
	Sabina	nods.
	Sabina	"Fair, though I suppose I have my own biases related to psionic hazards."
	Arkalest	"I can imagine why is that."
	Sabina	"That is a component, the other aspect is that I am a telepath as well, which leaves me vulnerable to hazards that go after us specifically."
	Arkalest	She quietly nods at this, face unchanging as she sips on some tea.
	Sabina	"It's something that while I do not actively advertise, I do not wish to hide either. In the interest of equity I am quite willing to answer questions of your own."
	Arkalest	She looks at the marmalade basket. "How do you....Erm, perceive thoughts?"
	Sabina	"It depends on how deeply I go, unless I actively press I more pick up on emotional states and some association. It's a combination of color and feel, though the feel only tends to come up for the more intense emotional states."
	Arkalest	"Interesting." She raises an eyebrow, leaning forward slightly- Tail twapping against the chair as she does so.
	Sabina	"You're actually the first person to ask me that."
	Arkalest	"Well, I assume other telepaths in your family just sort of...Knew'"
	Arkalest	"It's one of those things you are justy born with."
	Sabina	"So it is, though telepathy is somewhat rare among my clan, that I had it marked me as a prospective Keeper," She gestures to her wrist "I was the only one in my generation to have that gift, and with the last Keeper's passing I am so far the only one in my clan to be a telepath."
	Arkalest	She nods slowly. "That's...Pretty impressive." There's actual awe in her voice. "And also I assume the Instrumental does talk back to an extent?"
	Sabina	"It does, in a fashion. The mental patterns of the previous users remain in the Instrament, and they do communicate with the current user. That communication is one of my major duties actually, to act as a intermediary and interpreter between the clan and our ancestors."
	Arkalest	Her eyes widen considerably and she staggers back, placing her hands on the armrests of the chair to stabilize herself. Judging by  the way her ears perk up and her tail shoot  up, this seemed to have piqued her interest.
	Sabina	"It's not quite a conversation. Usually more along the lines of thoughts and impressions, though I can tell that each comes from a distinct voice. To actually speak with a previous Keeper would be unprecedented."
	Arkalest	She slowly nods, her claws quietly sinking into the armrests.
	Sabina	takes a drink for tea, giving Irene a chance to think or ask another question.
	Arkalest	She remains silent, staring at you unblinking. Actually unblinkingly. Unbreathing.
	Arkalest	Then after a half minute of that. "Erhm."
	Arkalest	"So." Her neck muscles tense. "That's.....................Pretty...Imrpessive."
	Sabina	"I apologize, I did not intend to alarm you Irene."
	Arkalest	"Oh, I............Am...........The.........Opposite.........of...Alarmed." She didn't even move her lips.
	Sabina	"Ah you seemed somewhat alarmed."
	Arkalest	"...........You..Could say..:That."
	Sabina	"True, but it appears I misjudged your reaction. I apologize."
	Arkalest	She raises a claw. "'s okay." It's pretty much a breathless whisper. "am just, a bit culture shocked."
	Arkalest	"happens."
	Sabina	"So I didn't scare you? That's what I was afraid off."
	Arkalest	She slowly, slowly exhales for a few seconds. "..............Well, it's less scared and more.....Intrigured.."
	Sabina	nods
	Sabina	"Colors have a. . multitude of meanings. Lighter shades of blue tend to denote curiosity, and darker are more fearful, seeing blues with the body language you displayed, and my own experiences, had me consider fear before interest."
	Arkalest	"I am blue right now, ai I not?"
	Sabina	"Blue, red and orange. Yes."
	Arkalest	"What's orange?" Her neck muscles relax.
	Sabina	"It can be unease and anxiety or desire and anticapation. It's also flux, indicative of a unbalanced emotional state."
	Arkalest	"Oh shit."
	Arkalest	"Err." She froces herself to smile. "I mean that's uh, good, /good/ to know /yes/ "
	Sabina	"I have no intention of prying."
	Arkalest	"No, no nonono I am perfectly- Okay, mos- Errr, sorta fine." She exhales and her shoulders slump." Just a bit on edge."
	Sabina	"If it is due to me, I can assure you that I don't have a habit of dwelling too much on what I sense. Or of judging on it either."
	Arkalest	"Erhm it's, ah, nooot  that." She raises both hands, tail waggling. "I am, again I am fine, just.."
	Arkalest	"...Need time to digest the info.:" Irene looks away.
	Sabina	"Ah, as I said, I have no intention of prying on this. I just wanted to make sure that. . there were not any misunderstandings between us along those lines is all."
	Arkalest	The morph further exhales. "Sorry, I overreacted."
	Sabina	"No need to apologize, I took no offense."
	Arkalest	"No, no, it's......." Her eyes close. "It's just, you're sitting on a treasure trove of....Stuff.."
	Arkalest	She gestures with her hand at your wrist. "This kind of archives, they're not rare in NM but....Again:"
	Arkalest	"What I told you about artifacts doubles for them."
	Sabina	nods.
	Sabina	"It's with some regret that I must admit that the Instrament is loath to give it's secrets. For as long as my for bearers have held it, we know so little of it."
	Arkalest	Hands joined she tilts her head forward. "Yeah, yeah I can imagine. It's..Mmh.."
	Arkalest	"It's  hard to believe it was made by Man at all."
	Sabina	"Is it? They left so many mysteries, gifts, and terrors that I do not ind it out that they left a combination of all three behind."
	Sabina	*find
	Arkalest	She spreads her hands. "It's a more, erm, complicate matter. Form and style and substance."
	Sabina	nods, listening carefully
	Arkalest	"It's, it's  a matter of who made it, why they did, how and when and it sort of- New Meridian was- The name impoles it, it's younger than the other polities but like.."
	Arkalest	She exhales once again. "The Instrumentals are clearly tooled for humanoined usage, but they're very demanding."
	Sabina	nods again.
	Arkalest	"it's a matter of- Who was supposed to use them? I mean, look around. Just in this cylinder we've got the most desparate range of posthumans, morphics and non-organic successors.."
	Arkalest	"Then- Imagine all the clades that survived the Ashen Age."
	Arkalest	She swallows. "Okay, let'0s go back, I am..Making a mess."
	Arkalest	"Now, the Instrumentals are rare-  But not utterly so. They're found in all three polities, which means they're relatively well-documented, yes?"
	Sabina	laughs delicately. "It's alright Irene, my teacher's lessons wandered like a river delta. And to my knowledge that is true."
	Arkalest	"And the Delphians can use them, but tough shit- Their brains are literal organic supercomputers. Now.."
	Arkalest	She opens her hands. "If they were man-made, who were the original Instrumentalists?"
	Sabina	"The first assumption would be Man themself."
	Arkalest	"Well, Man wasn't a single monolithic entity. "
	Arkalest	Irene raises a finger to her temple. "The Word of Man says we are lesser, inferior- And supposedly the Instrumentals attest to that, but.."
	Arkalest	"Man wasn't psionic, now, was it? Not the first, not the origin species.."
	Sabina	"And what a Instrament does to a non-psionic. . Is not pretty."
	Arkalest	She nods twice. "What's more.."
	Arkalest	"What happened to the Instrumentalists? Theycould have been a separate clade with locked DNA sequences that prevented repproduction."
	Arkalest	"Or they could have been created by modifying the existing neurochemistry of an individual, but like- There are hardly traces of a tried and true process that utterly works."
	Arkalest	"There have been attempts as far as I've heard, some more successful than others, but.."
	Sabina	"It doesn't change the fact that Instrumentalists live's are shortened by their Instrument. Even if the attempts lessen the speed."
	Arkalest	She nods. "It's clearly a problem of  interface. Better people than us have tried to solve this."
	Arkalest	"And the only idea so far is the fact it's..An indirect product of Man."
	Sabina	"Oh?"
	Arkalest	"You know what a singularity is?"
	Sabina	"The astrological one, or the technological term? I'm somewhat familiar with both uses of the term, but hardly a expert."
	Arkalest	"The latter."
	Sabina	"My understanding is that it a point in the future at which technology has advanced so far that it is beyond the realm of conception."
	Arkalest	She nods. "Or more, that the creation of a true non-anthroponeural artificial intelligence may result in a cascade growth in technology."
	Arkalest	"Now, we do have non-anthroponeural AIs running aroumd, butthey're still  understandable, still....On our plane of thinking."
	Sabina	"Even with some of their own quirks."
	Arkalest	Another nod. "But the thing is, there's another term that has caught foot around NM recently- I mnea, last fifty years. A psionic singularity."
	Sabina	"I've never heard that term before."
	Arkalest	"Well, I think you could easily grasp it. Think about the Phedrians."
	Arkalest	"Think how they technologically are more or less dependant on psionics- Think on how they're more or less using psionics as technology."
	Arkalest	She raises a hand. "The Voraks, the Delphians and a few others are natural born psionics, but the thing is, Man wasn't."
	Arkalest	"We all have the potential to be, but it is incredibly varied across the board."
	Sabina	"Indeed, both in strength and in who has the gift."
	Arkalest	"Well, the theory goes like this: Man underwent a first psionic singularity that allowed them to use psionics.."
	Arkalest	"AQnd then a clade underwent a /second/ one and created the Instrumentals."
	Sabina	"I see."
	Arkalest	"And the thing is, their minds were different enough that they, well- The Instrumentals are tailored for them."
	Sabina	"It's why the Instrament is so hard on the user. Our minds are not quite compatible, but close enough."
	Arkalest	Irene  nods. "Yeah, which means that at least there's something shared."
	Sabina	"We are Man's children, are we not?"
	Arkalest	"Yup."
	Sabina	"That fits in with something your Aunt told me. That she thought that the Instruments were tools, a intermediary step to something a greater. The tools that make the tools and so on and so forth."
	Arkalest	She nods. "Yeah, mom has that kind of insights."
	Sabina	"She's a very impressive woman. She reminds me of my own mother in some respects."
	Arkalest	Irene smiles quietly, yes closed."I assume she is some sort of administrator?"
	Sabina	"She's in charge of maintaining and caring for our lands, so yes."
	Arkalest	"So yoou're sort of a land-owning family?"
	Sabina	"Pretty much, we own a fair amount of land, and we've integrated ourselves into the upper levels of the planetary government as well. We don't rule but our words do not go unheard either."
	Arkalest	She snorts. "So much for the psionic conspiracy flaunted by some NM weedy crazies."
	Sabina	"Oh? Is this some sort of idea about a psionic cabal ruling from the shadows? We don't have too many of thoose back home, aprtly due to our people's commitment to the militia and police, and also for our history of. . . dueling those who disrespect us."
	Sabina	*partly
	Arkalest	She shrugs. "Yeah, it's kind of also rooted in the "UD coming for our corps" thing, and general xenophobic thoughts."
	Sabina	"Well it's good to know some things transcend the polity borders."
	Sabina	"Or," Sabina frowns "depressing for that matter."
	Arkalest	Another shrugs. "I don't have any partciular beef against psionics or aliens, to  be honest. I was raised a bit better than that. "There's definitively pride in her voice
	Sabina	"And it is a both a credit to you and your parents."