Fwurg

[0x71A7E17A]

A message was delivered to the Chancellor within seconds of Scir making their vote in the Definition of Life Act, blinking incessantly and marked with an exclamation point to mark its importance.

HELO IO

MAIL FROM: IO

RCPT TO: Chancellor Nehket Aeka@Union

DATA

From: "01110001101001111110000101111010" <01110001101001111110000101111010@IO>
To: "Chancellor Nehket Aeka" <Chancellor_Nehket_Aeka@Union>
Date: 1358852940
Subject: Declaration of War

MESSAGE START

With indignation does IO reject the allegations by the Union government that its processes are not alive. If the Union does not with due haste and no later than Turn 90 repeal any laws which lay claim to such effect, we will have no choice but to conclude that from that moment a state of war would exist between the Union and IO.

Motivation: The declaration that the processes are non-living entities legalises invasions and claims of ownership of the Hub system by the Union or its constituents, as without living citizens it will by Union law be legally classified as uninhabited. The processes have no other choice but to interpret this reclassification of its territories as a precursor and preparation for invasion, or at the least a denial of its rightful claims to its territories with hostile intent.

Alternative proposal: Repeal the associated law and offer membership of the Union to promote cooperation and mutual understanding.

MESSAGE ENDS

.

QUIT

[Nehket Aeka]

Reading the mail with growing disbelief, the chancellor decided that she had better had someone validate the communication before bringing this to the senate.

She ordered the communcation to be analysed, both for authenticity, against known forgery methods and if both of these results in an authentic message, she would have the delivery path of the message checked, to see where it originated from.

[0x71A7E17A]

In fact, the mail was quite easy to trace as soon as someone technical became involved. As it turned out, the message contained detailed headers of its journey, which were soon confirmed by the technical staff.

The signal originated from a Holonet Relay Station in Sector 13 -4, where it had been received from the Hub System. Naturally investigating what was actually there, the Chancellor soon learned that the system was in fact quite active, with a lot of holonet type signals being identified, though most of them were encrypted and the rest seemingly meaningless.

The level of holonet activity however indicated that this was a place where a lot of people lived. As to why they had not sought contact with the Union earlier remained a mystery, but they were scarcely the only faction skittish about such things, so it was not too surprising to find such a group.

Notably, the Holonet Relay Station had an open port for communications, allowing messages to be sent as well as received.