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[lt_cmmdr_scott]

[Good afternoon, ducks. The first part of this message is comprised of an image, a simple blue background covered in a barely-legible scrawl, along with a few small scribbled drawings for emphasis here and there. The whole thing is covered in equation after equation, and - if you've a background in that sort of thing - appears to deal with the

Comments

[hok_ton]

Perhaps you should trust your instincts a bit more. I have yet to find myself in a layer of rock or the center of a sun, and I use far less precise tools than any mechanical device.

[hok_ton]

Well, humans in my universe are quite different. Some - most, perhaps - would have been horrified had they known that their starships used to be beings of beauty and grace, forever twisted into a tortuous and pained existence. But the Inquest found a way around such difficulties, as I am sure governments in your universe have on occasion.

[lt_cmmdr_scott]

And are you part of this Inquest?

[hok_ton]

I was, once.

Does it surprise you to find monsters here as well as saints?

[lt_cmmdr_scott]

[Well he had hoped that the community would take certain standards into consideration when choosing who was able to access it.]

Does it surprise me? Not precisely. But it's a bit disappointing.

[hok_ton]

Perhaps you should be a bit more careful in your acquaintances here. Most are not as upfront about their crimes as I.

[lt_cmmdr_scott]

Thanks for the warning, I suppose.

[hok_ton]

I thought it might be prudent, given that your interest overlap with a few of my...companions here on the community.

[lt_cmmdr_scott]

How do you justify it? Enslaving another for your own gain?

[Yup, sort of changing the subject, because... Well, he has to know. He honestly doesn't understand how anyone could even begin to imagine doing something like that.]

[hok_ton]

It benefited many millions more than it harmed. Furthermore, without the power of the delphinoid shipminds, the Inquest would not have been able to hold together its empire.

But I never was much for justifying hypocrisy to myself. Elloran would say something along the lines of "slavery seems to be an unfortunate tendency of the human race". But in truth, when one rules a galaxy, eventually it becomes easy to enslave and destroy, simply for reasons of expedience and resource. Live a thousand years, and one begins to see a larger picture than the one presented in sob stories about unfortunate individuals.

It isn't nice, but then again, humans rarely are.

[lt_cmmdr_scott]

The ends justify the means, is what you're saying.

[hok_ton]

Something like that. And such things will happen anyways, so it might as well be accepted and regulated.

[lt_cmmdr_scott]

It doesn't have to be like that.

[hok_ton]

No. But it is often easier.

[lt_cmmdr_scott]

It's wrong.

[hok_ton]

That is a rather blanket statement.

Not that I disagree. But you might hear a more convincing argument from one who was not quite as integral in destroying the system.