Fwurg

[Maria Latharion]

Maria shook her head.

"No, owning personal property isn't important in our culture. I asked because the right to possess says a lot about how a person is treated by others."

She turned her attention to Miranda.

"Could you share your findings, Miranda?"

[Miranda Asillion]

Miranda paid no attention to Serrah's clothing and showed no reaction to Serrah being naked. As a doctor she didn't find such things strange.

She merely nodded at Serrah's comment about her cybernetic eyes and skin. She didn't react to Serrah's last comment either, whether this was because she didn't hear or chose to ignore it was only known to Miranda herself.

"Certainly." Miranda said when Maria asked about her findings.

"Miss Serrah is in good overall health, there are a few indications of childhood injuries, but all have healed well and there is no evidence of physical abuse."

She then looked to Aeka.

"You should be a bit more gentle to her though, I recognised a few signs from inter-species relationships where one has a higher physical prowess than the other."

[Nehket Aeka]

Before Miranda was finished, the veolian senator replied in reaction to the statement about the right to possess: "That might be true, but remember what I told you about being an extension of their owner."

She smiled, "This goes for all the owner's possessions as well. Anything I own, is effectively owned by Serrah and my other slaves as well, as they each speak with my full authority."

Just then, Miranda finished her examination, and Maria asked her to share her findings.

After hearing what Miranda had to say, she looked thoughtful for a moment. "As you might be aware, a hemet's physical prowess is not only in raw strength, but also in finesse. It is a testament to her skill that she can make me lose my control like that. But I will take your advice to heart, I wish nothing but the best for her."

[Serrah]

"It is true. As long as we are speaking confidentially. Sometimes I purposefully tease her until she lets go of her constraints. Aeka can be a very tense person, and sometimes she just needs someone to force her to be herself without constraints."

[Nehket Aeka]

"Ehm, yes.", the veolian senator seemed a little flustered at Serrah's statement, and a slight blush crept up her cheeks.

"I think we should here some details about your people's cybernetics now, wouldn't you say?", she stated to Maria.

"For starters, I would like to know a bit more about the laws governing the use and application of cybernetics. I assume that not all types of implants are allowed without question? What about implants that offer unfair advantages, how do your people see the fact that those with more wealth can afford better implants, thus allowing them to take better jobs, and perform better in all facets of life?"

It was clear that the veolian senator wasn't entirely comfortable discussing her relation with Serrah. Maybe the fact that Serrah was open about it to the two astrian women wasn't exactly what she had in mind when said she had no problems with allowing Serrah to be open about anything she had done with her.

[Maria Latharion]

"Well one of the first laws regarding cybernetics was the extension of the weapons law. It states that no cybernetic component may contain or be part of energy or projectile base weaponry. Nor may it contain sharp or blunt weapons of any kind, with the exception of natural parts of a persons body such as hands and feet."

Maria explained.

"They can't be used to conceal weapons either.

Apart from this there is a legally required minimum quality standard and certain components must be uniquely traceable. A cybernetic hand for example must have a unique palm- and fingerprint.

Lastly, the synthetic muscles implants contain have a limit on their strength. This goes up to the highest recorded strength the corresponding biological muscle has. What this results in is that the physical strength of an Astrian with minimal cybernetics is theoretically equal to that of an Astrian full cyborg. But there are specific permits that allow this last rule to be bypassed."

[Miranda Asillion]

Miranda simply nodded to the veolian senators explanation.

"Employers often fund implants if a certain job requires them. Apart from that they look for skill.

I'm sure we can all agree that high grade equipment is no substitute for skill."

She paused and look to the other women in the room.

"Most employees get implants to make their job easier to perform. Take the synthetic skin on my hands for example. It has the capability to sterilize itself, I got it so I wouldn't have to put on and take of gloves all the time.

There is also a certain amount of satisfaction a lot of Astrians get from doing things without the aid of certain technologies. Employers look for this because that provides a motivation that is favourable for all parties."

[Maria Latharion]

Maria remembered something while Miranda was talking and after she was done she looked at the veolian woman.

"Aeka, in one of your messages you ruled cybernetics under addictive substances. Why do you think that?"

[Nehket Aeka]

"I do not remember ruling it under addictive substances. In veolian law, most cybernetics and implants are controlled substances, they are not necessarily classified as addictive substances. This is not as different as the laws on your world. You place legal limits on muscle tissue replacements to be no better than their natural biological counterpart. We have legal limits on all cybernetics so they do not surpass their biological counterparts."


"From my perspective, it does seem as if Astrians are indeed addicted to cybernetics. You can not live without them. In fact, you are dependent upon your cybernetics for the continued existence of your species. Of course, the same can be said about my dependency on food, water and air. But those are not dependencies of my own design. Your people started using cybernetics out of necessity, which is an impressive feat of survival."

"Your use of cybernetics can be compared with how a person with a broken leg would use a crutch. Normally, the leg heals over time, and the crutch is no longer needed to move around. However, instead of healing, your people made the crutch your leg. I think your people have great potential, but you depend upon a crutch. It might be a very advanced crutch, that behaves as if it were a leg, but it is still a crutch."

"This is why, in the past, I have offered to assist, or even fully fund, research to allow your people to be independent of cybernetics. We do not like to see our neighbours, and friends, walking with crutches."

[Miranda Asillion]

Miranda was shocked by Aeka's words.

"How dare you?" She asked, her tone of voice angry.

"We mutually agree to come here and discuss our cultural differences. You ask us to accept and respect a practice as repulsive as slavery.

And then you insult our ways and technology? And to top it all of, you make the offer to help change our culture? When we have done our best to respect your culture, despite our disagreement with it."

[Maria Latharion]

"Miranda!" Maria spoke with a stern voice.

"She means no harm." She said to Miranda. "Show a little dignity."

Maria knew the words where heartfelt but despite what Aeka had said about the informal nature, this was still a political discussion and she would treat it as such.

[Miranda Asillion]

Miranda took a deep breath and exhaled slowly.

"My apologies for my out burst, senator." Her words sounded forced but sincere.

[Nehket Aeka]

Aeka has been a politician long enough to know when it is beneficial to let something go. Instead of reacting to Miranda immediately, she waited to see if Maria would say something.

After the apology by Miranda, Aeka smiled a warm, friendly smile.

"Thank you for your sincerity, Miranda.", she replied.

"Now, as to the reason you offered such sincerity. I just replied to a question by Maria, to elaborate in why I would see cybernetics as an addictive substance."

Aeka glanced at Maria before continuing. She decided to let the remark about the repulsiveness of slavery go without note, as she and Maria already had that discussion in the mails leading to this meeting.

"As to the offer to fund research..."

Aeka looked directly at Miranda.

"As you might have heard just now, before your statement, I said 'in the past'. I have extended this offer only once, and Maria made it clear that the STF was not interested. This was when Maria and I first met to get to know more of each other's culture. It was a good conversation, where we covered a lot of ground."

"I accept your apology, in hopes that this conversation can still be equally satisfying."

[Serrah]

"I do not.", Serrah suddenly stated. "If you find slavery repulsive, what am I in your eyes?"

The tone of her voice was not friendly.

"My mistress is only slightly less repulsed by your cybernetics, yet she has not even said a word about this. Not even when you were inspecting me. Do you expect me to sit here, and accept such hypocrisy because I am a slave?!"

[Nehket Aeka]

Aeka's expression turned from friendly to stern in but a moment as she turned her attention towards her slave.

"Serrah. Be silent.", she said sternly but quietly. "Doctor Asillion offered a sincere apology, and that is the last of it. You will not speak up again in this manner."

Aeka turned her attention back towards the Astrian women.

"Maybe it would be good to change the subject for a moment?"

[Maria Latharion]

"Perhaps that would be best." Maria said.

"Aeka, what do you think of the plans of the new chancellor to open up trade with the Core Hegemony?"

[Nehket Aeka]

"In all honesty, I have not given that specific matter much thought. We know the Core hegemony is very human-oriented, and my people do not exactly look like humans. Though more than some of the other species in the Union."

Aeka looked Maria over, clearly paying attention to her appearance. "I suppose your world should be able to benefit from it. Your people appear to be human, and your world is close the the core."

"Overall, I think the influx of goods will be good for the Union. I am not yet convinced that such a trade relation will remain long enough to have actual merit beyond a incidental exchange of goods."

[Maria Latharion]

"We do look more like humans yes, apart from our size that is.

I haven't dealt with the Core Hegemony before, but I heard their diplomats are often primitive and backwards.

Have you dealt with them during your time as Minister of Foreign Affairs?"

[Nehket Aeka]

"No, I haven't. From what I have heard though, they have a formal hierarchy not unlike the command structure of an army. Their representative was a general. The previous dealings with them only lasted for a few weeks."

"I have decided to wait and see with regards to this specific point that chancellor Acehtoo raised. It might be that the large-scale trade is interesting, but in my experience there is no such thing as 'offering access too goods for smaller worlds'.

There is two problems with it. Mostly it means that the large economies take the largest share of trade, while the small economies are also afforded the opportunity to try and negotiate a bit of trade."

"And the second problem is that most small economies aren't really waiting for a large influx of a single material or product. Their people are looking for an improvement of their style of life, not for two hovercars per head of population."

Nehket Aeka's tone conveyed concern.

[Maria Latharion]

"I suppose. Of course the STF's close proximity to the Core Hegemony makes it easier for us to make a profit from any trade with them.

Then again there is only a hand full of people on Stellaria that can drive a hovercar, so there isn't really a market for those anyway."

[Nehket Aeka]

"The location of your world is indeed advantageous with regard to trading with the Core Hegemony. Unfortunately, this also puts you nearer the Mandalorian fleets. Though it seems that both the Union's intelligence network and the Union fleets should be capable of rebuffing them."

"What is the reason that there is only a handful of people that can drive? I have not heard of such an impressive public transportation system on Stellaria..."

Aeka left the sentence hanging for show, to allow the stellarian senator to complete it however was most appropriate.

[Maria Latharion]

"As you probably already know, the Stellarian summers are harsh. To protect the population we have placed special glass covers over streets and other public places, they work a lot like two way mirrors. These covers make it difficult to use hovercars."

"Our public transport system is better developed as a result. A planet-wide system that is well connected and balanced.

Triad City, where most of our population lives, has stops or stations within ten minutes walking of nearly every point. And travel time to any point is under two hours, if you use the fastest route and no problems occur of course."

"This allows people to live and work on opposite sides of the city, nearly 10000 kilometres apart."

[Nehket Aeka]

"That is an impressive feat of civil engineering."

Aeka glanced at Miranda to gauge her mood, before speaking to Maria.

"Do your people use cybernetics technologies to enhance mental processes? For example, I could easily envision some jobs such as architect, engineer or medical specialist be done with greater proficiency if some parts of the brain are assisted."

[Miranda Asillion]

Miranda had calmed down and was quietly listening to the conversation between Aeka and Maria. When the veolian senator asked her question about cybernetics she decided to re-enter the conversation.

"Barely, most aid provided to brain functions is on memory. Storing things a person has seen and heard, however storing feelings or emotions is still impossible. The systems that do aid cognitive processes require rather extensive modifications, they are to large to fit inside a persons body and require rigorous training to use. They have a few side effects, though these aren't necessarily bad. I heard that Travellers have such systems, but I'm not sure.

The opposite direction, however, is fairly easy and widely used. Using a persons brain to provide additional processing power to a computer system. Multitasking is also something that can be done, at least as long as the tasks performed don't require to much attention."

Miranda paused a moment.

"Again my apologies for my outburst earlier."

[Maria Latharion]

Maria smiled at the fact Miranda had calmed down and had rejoined the conversation.

She gave her a tiny approving nod.