FYS: The God Whale Compromise
Something relevant to seawasp's interests. :)
* * *
Hiro stood at the podium, looking out at the assembled members of the design team, gathered together in the auditorium both in real space and virtually, looking back at him in apprehension. He checked the notes he’d typed into his tablet, then cleared his throat to gain their attention.
“Well, I just finished a one-on-one with the Groupmind, which is always fun.” As he expected, that got some sympathetic chuckles from the gathered team. “As we predicted, we didn’t get everything we wanted, but we got some of it. First and most importantly, the Groupmind agreed on most aspects of our primary morph design. It’ll be the full four hundred meters tall, with a ring-carbon frame to accommodate its weight.”
He paused to allow for a pleased murmur to settle down. “However, we didn’t get the mouth cannon. A laser with that much mega-wattage is out of the question, even with the fifty-kilometer safety zone we offered. The Groupmind did agree on our alternative of the oversized spotlight with the pressurized air cannons surrounding it, which should give us the same effect, though obviously with a greatly diminished range.” That prompted a few disappointed grumbles, though some of the team just nodded in resignation.
Hiro drew in a breath. In the closer seats, he could see many of his team brace themselves, in anticipation of bad news. “I’m also afraid that we didn’t get the biggest thing we wanted. Neo Tokyo is not on the table. The Groupmind simply wouldn’t agree to denuding the available balsa tree forests for the material that we’d need.”
There was a loud collective groan, and several of the team members slapped their knees or stomped on the floor in obvious frustration. Keiko, who’d led the cityscape sub-team, called out, “Well what’s the point of the rest of it, then?”
Hiro allowed a smile to rise to his lips. “Well, it turns out the Groupmind didn’t want us to come away empty handed. It noted that given the current population growth of the Ring, City Eighteen in Sector 30 won’t be required for habitation for at least two hundred and fifty years. The Groupmind is willing to sacrifice it to the cause, so we won’t have to give up on rest of the project. It’s even willing to build a replica of Tokyo Tower for Scene 30.”
The jubilant reaction made Hiro grin, as the design team whooped for joy. Several threw their tablets into the air in the excitement, saved only from being beaned as they fell by the quick reaction of their morphs.
“Okay, okay, everyone calm down,” he called out. “We still have a lot of work to do. Keiko, your next assignment is to do a survey of City 18 and see what modifications we have to do to the script, and then consult with Yuki’s pyrotechnic morphs to plan out where to set the demolition charges.”
“Hai!” Keiko agreed enthusiastically.
“Finally, the rest of you need to start brainstorming about our second major character. We’re going to have to figure out how to convince the Groupmind to let us mount rockets on the turtle, and whether we can really make it fly…”
* * *
Hiro stood at the podium, looking out at the assembled members of the design team, gathered together in the auditorium both in real space and virtually, looking back at him in apprehension. He checked the notes he’d typed into his tablet, then cleared his throat to gain their attention.
“Well, I just finished a one-on-one with the Groupmind, which is always fun.” As he expected, that got some sympathetic chuckles from the gathered team. “As we predicted, we didn’t get everything we wanted, but we got some of it. First and most importantly, the Groupmind agreed on most aspects of our primary morph design. It’ll be the full four hundred meters tall, with a ring-carbon frame to accommodate its weight.”
He paused to allow for a pleased murmur to settle down. “However, we didn’t get the mouth cannon. A laser with that much mega-wattage is out of the question, even with the fifty-kilometer safety zone we offered. The Groupmind did agree on our alternative of the oversized spotlight with the pressurized air cannons surrounding it, which should give us the same effect, though obviously with a greatly diminished range.” That prompted a few disappointed grumbles, though some of the team just nodded in resignation.
Hiro drew in a breath. In the closer seats, he could see many of his team brace themselves, in anticipation of bad news. “I’m also afraid that we didn’t get the biggest thing we wanted. Neo Tokyo is not on the table. The Groupmind simply wouldn’t agree to denuding the available balsa tree forests for the material that we’d need.”
There was a loud collective groan, and several of the team members slapped their knees or stomped on the floor in obvious frustration. Keiko, who’d led the cityscape sub-team, called out, “Well what’s the point of the rest of it, then?”
Hiro allowed a smile to rise to his lips. “Well, it turns out the Groupmind didn’t want us to come away empty handed. It noted that given the current population growth of the Ring, City Eighteen in Sector 30 won’t be required for habitation for at least two hundred and fifty years. The Groupmind is willing to sacrifice it to the cause, so we won’t have to give up on rest of the project. It’s even willing to build a replica of Tokyo Tower for Scene 30.”
The jubilant reaction made Hiro grin, as the design team whooped for joy. Several threw their tablets into the air in the excitement, saved only from being beaned as they fell by the quick reaction of their morphs.
“Okay, okay, everyone calm down,” he called out. “We still have a lot of work to do. Keiko, your next assignment is to do a survey of City 18 and see what modifications we have to do to the script, and then consult with Yuki’s pyrotechnic morphs to plan out where to set the demolition charges.”
“Hai!” Keiko agreed enthusiastically.
“Finally, the rest of you need to start brainstorming about our second major character. We’re going to have to figure out how to convince the Groupmind to let us mount rockets on the turtle, and whether we can really make it fly…”