Agent K | Network 006

[most_feared]

Audio | Public

[Agent K really isn't sure that what he's given is accurate so far. Oh the race is- he knows that is going to happen eventually. But when he gets his own invitation he's more than a little baffled.]

So I just got this invitation. [There's the sound of beeping as he's reading through his comm.] Anyone else gonna take 'em up on it?

[Because he's not sure if he will or not. After that incident with the the slick streets, though, a good race might be fun. It's his kind of thing.]

Comments

[truth_is_the_enemy]

I got one of those as well. It sounds...interesting.

I think I'd prefer horses, but you can't have everything. This thing they say I'm riding, I'm not even sure what it actually is. I just hope it's saddle trained.

[most_feared]

I think everyone would prefer horses. What did you get?

We should probably check with the farm imports and see if we'll have to do that.

[truth_is_the_enemy]

Something called a... [There's a rustle as he consults the paper for the name. It isn't the sort of name he was able to remember easily.] ...Macrauchenia Whatever that is.

I'm in deep shtako if we have to train the animals, too. I know how to ride well enough, but I've never so much as house trained a puppy.

[If it comes to that, he thinks he remembers Niko talking about growing up on a farm. So maybe Niko would have a few tips.]

[most_feared]

That's something extinct. Like a long legged tapir. It'll be interesting enough, should get you a lotta ground. Get a good saddle because animals with arced backs are hard to ride.

[He almost pities him.] I guess it makes it more complicated when we're not real sure how to break 'em.

[truth_is_the_enemy]

Tapir? I don't know that one. Wildlife got a little...strange on my world after the terraforming.

But if they were going to drag out something that's extinct, I'm a bit disappointed that they didn't go all out and get me a dinosaur. It'd be my five-year-old self's dream come true.

[most_feared]

Really. What happened?

[See, he doesn't like the word "terraforming", but he does like hearing about alien wildlife. It's sort of an odd conflict there.]

[truth_is_the_enemy]

The Votans happened. Their home system was destroyed so they thought they'd set up residence on Earth. It all started out polite enough, with ambassadors and negotiations and talks of maybe giving them part of South America to redecorate like home. But the talks broke down and it turned into an alien invasion instead. Terraforming devices were used on the Earth, unplanned and indiscriminately. It's like somebody took two different jigsaw puzzles and tried to make the pieces fit together. Some habitats are like old Earth, some are like the Votan worlds, and some have ended up a mix of both as species spread and adapted.

[most_feared]

Sounds like a hard time. [He's pretty sure if the Men in Black had been in that world, that sort of thing wouldn't have happened. Kay is also prone to greatly underestimating things, though. He doesn't mean anything offensive when he calls it "tough", but rather that it's... a little normal for him.]

How well have they adapted? Are things still pretty tense?

[truth_is_the_enemy]

Well, the war is over and humans and Votans are hypothetically at peace but things aren't entirely friendly. There are a few places where humans and Votans live together and form inclusive communities, but for the most part the two groups keep themselves apart. The Votanis Collective and the E-Rep--that's the largest human government--aren't exactly on good terms.

[most_feared]

Does it look like the peace will at least be continuing for a while?

[That's important to Kay, knowing whether the two sides seemed like they would or wouldn't learn to tolerate each other.]

[truth_is_the_enemy]

It's difficult to say. E-Rep is centered in New York and the Votanis Collective is in Brazil so the two have mostly avoided stepping on each other's toes too much. With both groups gathering more territory there's no telling how long that will last, however. And the problem with trying to negotiate with the Votans is that they consist of seven different races, each with their own interests and moral code. So, for example, the Indogenes are cold, but they can be reasoned with and would probably accept a logical argument for peace if you can give them one. The Castithans, however, are a male dominated society of egotists who fear being seen as weak and loathe the idea of surrender.

[most_feared]

Unfortunately 90% of human society is the same when it comes to unbeatable male egoism, which most people like to deny. Because the agency of many women has been removed, the deaths in natural disasters or war time invasions are fourteen women per one man. Many kindly, sophisticated races refuse to initiate a peaceful first contact and allow that sort of race any ground. So I can understand your concerns. Logic might be the way to go, though, but it's complicated when you got other cultures out there.

[truth_is_the_enemy]

That's a sobering number.

...I wonder...the Pale Wars...everyone who lived through it has terrible stories, but so many people didn't live through it. It makes me wonder now how many of them were women, who died because they were women. No one's kept track of the statistics. We don't have a proper census any more, although E-Rep is trying to organize one.

[But the horrors of the Pale Wars is too grim and personal a topic for an audio conversation with a man he doesn't know very well. So he switches the subject, makes a wry joke.]

So, there are kindly, sophisticated races somewhere out there in the universe? That's good to know, because there's bugger all down on Earth these days--my Earth at least. Counting the Volge we've got nine sentient species but none of them can really be described as kindly and sophisticated.

[most_feared]

Oh yeah. There's a lot of 'em. And I tend to think there are kindly and sophisticated members of most intelligent races [most] but you just gotta look for 'em.

[truth_is_the_enemy]

All right, I can give you that. Humanity has managed to create a couple of good ones among the bad. For every hundred Viceroy Mercado's out there, there's also an Amanda Rosewater. And I've met some decent Votans in my time, although it sometime seems like the majority of them are nuttier than fruit cake and potentially dangerous. So, not too different from humans, really.