"Pausing, searching, receiving, contemplating..." (Part 4: The Best-Laid Plans)

[meat_mooks]

At some time during the night, while some were still sleeping, and some were awake and wandering around the hotel common rooms--a massive explosion rocked the hotel the group was staying in

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[hi_there_aliens]

Daniel frowned slightly at Lex. Daniel could get being interrupted by someone like Jack, since he was team lead, and a Colonel, (somehow team lead had gotten more weight than Colonel to him along the way) but Lex, as far as he knew, was another diplomat: Dick was the team lead. Daniel kept his mouth shut, because arguing and turning it into a pissing match in front of Kanner wasn't going to do anyone any favors, especially those missing. And if he was going to start something, it was going to be over something more important, like not pitting both sides on each other while they snuck off in the night.

They had split up into other groups, some of which had gone with law enforcement instead. They would be investigating the very same thing, and Daniel would be surprised if Lex's question hadn't occurred to them either. Which left them doing the same thing or traveling the same line. It didn't make sense to do it like that. It was like three people trying to open a locked door the same way and failing each time.... which also happened to generally be what Einstein had to say about insanity. Following another angle could easily give them a new insight, some other point of view or understanding of what might lead up to this, more so than asking the question that would probably come up in the other groups.

Daniel waited until Kanner finished. Approved histories. Just what he was afraid of and exactly what he didn't want if he could help it: while it was fine alongside other works, being limited to just those wasn't going to help. Interesting that they didn't even know why it had been originally developed though. Just different rumors and claims.

"I'm sorry to hear it. It's a shame when knowledge is lost like in that way." Daniel looked a little green at the thought of effectively harvesting a person for their organs. Really? Was this what they were trying to acquire for themselves? "I'd appreciate anything on the matter, especially the records left from that time period. Everything actually," not just the ones that passed a censor or board. He still had a hard time believing that there wasn't a war or anything in five thousand years. Preferably something closer to the time when cloning came into inception.

"This CLF and the other groups can't have been the first time someone's protested this technology. Like you said, people thought it was like playing at being gods," Daniel went on after a moment. "To be honest, I'm surprised to hear that it's taken five thousand years for anything to come into a major conflict." Nor was it usual.

[futureisclear]

"Social movements can take some time to develop or come to a head," Ildraniath commented. She knew that the Eldar had taken quite a long time to rise - and then fall. She folded her hands, storing the information away for later. It was all very interesting, but how much of this was actually going to be useful? Exploring this technology would be useful. Was it actually worth taking?

"I'm more interested in your technology than your history, however."

Let this Daniel fellow interpret that as he would. She didn't care if she rode over his petty interest in culture. Who needed to understand mon-keigh culture? It was virtually the same, no matter where you were.

"How do you provide replacement organs and so forth?"

[imperious_lex]

So, no other major third party. Still, while they were trying to play both ends off the middle, it was fairly clear that someone was trying to play them.

But who?

"Not to mention that all of your clones have a rather limited life span. Is this also true for the replacement organs you grow?" Planned obsolescence was something implemented by many manufacturers. You want to build something that would last for a while, but not for forever, because you want your customers to come back and buy another one eventually.

Having an organ that worked perfectly, but needed to be replaced once every several years or so? That would be a rather shrewd way of ensuring customer loyalty. Not to mention controlling the population, if one were so inclined. He had to admire that.

[galilee_npcs]

Kanner waited for eveyone to be seated, tapping a sequence into his own personal data interface before he handing it to Querl. "This is a virtual copy of most of them. The rest I can access when we return to the new Hotel, later in the afternoon."

He sat back, looking out one of the windows before turning his focus back to those sitting with him in the vehicle. "You'll actually find the answer to our coping with mutations and data loss in those files. It's been an ongoing field of study for centuries by now. The more you learn, the more you realize there is still left to learn."

A brief smile, as if this thought in and of itself was pleasing. "Doesn't make up for knowledge lost in other areas, if our scientific records are better kept. Different groups prioritizing diffrent knowledge subsets." One financial, the other more social. "If you'd like a hard-copy of files, I can put a request in, likely have them by this evening. The Universities tend to work with us when we ask them to." Like in loaning materials.

Kanner folded his hands into his lap. "People thought that, yes. Inevitably people always do. Yet you're looking for programs to object, or the people those programs support? At a certain point, quality of life standards plateaued, leaving the average person better off than they'd ever been historically." Implying what -- who would protest? And what would they be protesting?

Or agreeing with Ildraniath.

"General procedure is to clone individual organs themselves. The organ's life-span partly depends on use from the individual, but an average would be close to fifty years. Depending on the organ. If you search for 'Organ Replacement Plans' on my device, you'll see what some of the top companies offer these days. I'm told it's impressive." A small tug of his lips upward. "I tend to agree."

What it did mean, when you had a population that lived this long, was organ replacement happened fairly regularly. And organ abuse... well, one didn't worry too much on their poor habits. They didn't need to.

[level12headache]

Querl immediately began reading through the information. At the same time he was paying attention to everything that was being said. He trusted the others to ask further questions.

[hi_there_aliens]

Daniel's eyes started to glaze over despite himself once Luthor, Querl and Kanner started going into the finer details of the technology, such as mutations and data loss, but after a moment, he forced himself to pay attention. While the hard science wasn't something he had an easy time getting into (give him five thousand years or more of history, that he could get behind), the details regarding the medical applications and replacement organs, which really were pertinent questions, was. At least they just cloned individual organs instead of farming an individual. Granted, he supposed it was just more efficient to make what you needed. Still, he'd been worried...

Daniel scanned the information, more than willing to let the others handle the technical aspects. "Both. I'm sure there was friction before the quality of life standards plateaued, just as there were plenty who embraced the technology off the bat. Surely there were ethical concerns before the technology became available to everyone and before the quality of life jump. And, as the past few days have shown, they haven't exactly died out."

[futureisclear]

Ildraniath thumbed through her own copy of the information, glancing over it. At the same time, she tried a small little probe in Kanner's direction - what was he thinking? What was he feeling? Was he being truthful? All useful information to have and understand. She set her data reader aside with a little nod, voice still filtered through her helmet.

"Impressive."

Not quite as impressive as the Eldar's ability to use psychic power to stimulate healing and regrowth, of course, but better than some of what passed for medical science among the mon-keigh.

"Whatever does the most good for the most people, I suppose. A rather standard view of large societal change. Not uncommon. However... it would seem the bulk of the populace simply haven't bothered to protest before now. And if they have, it is not evident. I cannot particularly blame them, if they all enjoy high standards of living.... Although decadence and excess have their own prices."

She knew that too well. Like most humans, this culture was to undisciplined in many areas.

[imperious_lex]

"As long as most people are well fed, well clothed, and sufficiently distracted by entertainment, they won't complain. Most dictatorships rise to power on that promise, and fall when they fail to live up to it." Which did bring up an interesting question.

"How did you end up becoming a Councilor, if you don't mind my asking?"

[galilee_npcs]

"The usual way," Kanner said, a hint of amusement in his tone. "Spent more than I should have on a campaign running for a position that most people don't actually want. Not that any of us don't want to be here." Quite the opposite, in fact. "Are you wanting to hear a personal history as to why?"

He nodded to Ildraniath, acknowledging her point. "There's always a trade-off. Historically and culturally speaking." He felt honest, or honest enough, in what he was currently saying. He'd even been truthful in his statement as to the how of him being in this position -- he had spent far too much campaigning.

The next part is half true... or more, blurry. Like he understood more than he was saying. "Ethical concerns had a way of falling in front of concerns over economy in the last few centuries. Most of them started in science sectors, surprisingly. The general population had a movement before asking if it was right to delegate all labor to clones, as part of a health movement." Of all things. "A small number of people moved to a more rural farmland area, buying up land from the growers for the farms, and spent roughly twenty-three years attempting to support themselves on their own. They only lasted that long before a final accident with an archaic recreated farming machine took off the leader's leg. Her family brought her back to the nearest regeneration facility, and after that, the group ran with minimal additional clone labor."

Go figure.

"Reality isn't as idyllic as they'd believed." A ghost of a smile.

[level12headache]

Though he'd made significant progress, Querl was still reading.

[hi_there_aliens]

Hearing a politician regale them with his climb to power, just how he loved to start the day. Not something Daniel particularly wanted to hear, but for the sake of politeness and interdimensional diplomacy, you learned to put up with it without looking too bored.

Sure, the bulk of the population didn't appear to protest. And why should they? They got what they wanted, at little or no cost to themselves. It tended to work that way back on Earth. How many people went through life, with all the amenities, conveniences, all bought on the exploitation of others? And most of them probably didn't even know it. And even if there had been anything more significant in terms of protests, Daniel was sure they weren't going to hear about it. Propaganda and PR.

"No, it never is," he had to agree. The fact that they were sitting here, investigating a new form slavery said it all. Economy, wealth making ethical concerns taking a backseat. He wasn't surprised.

Daniel kept flipping through the packet. His eyes moved behind his glasses, reading quickly. He just flipped a page, seemingly completely engrossed when he spoke again. "Councillor Allin mentioned earlier that you've had to decommission and retire clones because of the resistance. What exactly does that entail?"