(no subject)
Trance had brought her tree with her into the rec room. Normally, she kept it away from people. It was far too precious to be out where everyone could see and touch. But she’d had an instinct and she always followed her instincts. Maybe he was feeling sociable. She stopped at the bookshelf and sighed. It was being picky today, offering her books on flying, on engineering, on Nietzschean philosophy, even a history book that seemed to include various things that Dylan and the Andromeda would do. She turned away from the bookshelf and the jukebox immediately started playing a song.
Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are!
Up above the world so high,
Like a diamond in the sky.
Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are!
“Thank you,” she muttered. “I don’t need to remember what I was.”
She wandered into the kitchen and poured herself a cup of juice before going back to the bookshelf to see what it held. More of the same, although this time she recognized one of the titles. The Broken Balance: Reflections on the Fall of the Systems Commonwealth. She chuckled because it was in a bound copy instead of a flexi, but she took it back to the couch with her, checking to make sure her tree was all right. It was and she settled back to read.
For centuries, members of the genetically engineered human subspecies known as Nietzscheans lived as loyal Commonwealth citizens, obeying its institutions, serving in its military and energetically contributing to its welfare... until they decided to destroy it.
By most accounts, Nietzschean discontent with the Commonwealth had been growing for decades, with many viewing it as a decadent and insufficiently challenging environment for a people as energetic as Homo sapiens invictus. But this simmering unhappiness rose to a boil after the Magog invasion of CY 9766 and what many Nietzscheans regarded as an insufficiently aggressive Commonwealth response. Long a frontier-dwelling people, many Nietzschean worlds found themselves along the front lines of Magog/Commonwealth confrontation, and suffered greatly from Magog attacks. Dawkinstown, Hawking, Kagame's World - these are only a few of the Nietzschean planets and settlements despoiled and terrorized by the Magog.
“And that’s where humans and Nietscheans differ,” Trance said to herself. “Humans want to hope for what’s best, even when they’re wrong and Nietscheans are pragmatists.” She wasn’t sure which side she could learn more from.
Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are!
Up above the world so high,
Like a diamond in the sky.
Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are!
“Thank you,” she muttered. “I don’t need to remember what I was.”
She wandered into the kitchen and poured herself a cup of juice before going back to the bookshelf to see what it held. More of the same, although this time she recognized one of the titles. The Broken Balance: Reflections on the Fall of the Systems Commonwealth. She chuckled because it was in a bound copy instead of a flexi, but she took it back to the couch with her, checking to make sure her tree was all right. It was and she settled back to read.
For centuries, members of the genetically engineered human subspecies known as Nietzscheans lived as loyal Commonwealth citizens, obeying its institutions, serving in its military and energetically contributing to its welfare... until they decided to destroy it.
By most accounts, Nietzschean discontent with the Commonwealth had been growing for decades, with many viewing it as a decadent and insufficiently challenging environment for a people as energetic as Homo sapiens invictus. But this simmering unhappiness rose to a boil after the Magog invasion of CY 9766 and what many Nietzscheans regarded as an insufficiently aggressive Commonwealth response. Long a frontier-dwelling people, many Nietzschean worlds found themselves along the front lines of Magog/Commonwealth confrontation, and suffered greatly from Magog attacks. Dawkinstown, Hawking, Kagame's World - these are only a few of the Nietzschean planets and settlements despoiled and terrorized by the Magog.
“And that’s where humans and Nietscheans differ,” Trance said to herself. “Humans want to hope for what’s best, even when they’re wrong and Nietscheans are pragmatists.” She wasn’t sure which side she could learn more from.