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The Next Generation (Star Trek)

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I assume Kys means the person he's directly replying to, Sam, is his "wife", not the last person to speak, Amy!
Also, I wouldn't worry, Amy, I don't think anyone really understands money.
 
I never understood why "it's a (flawed/shitty) decentralized resource allocation system" should be such a hard concept for feds to grasp. Esp. because they are still dealing with scarcity and resource allocation themself (energy rations, holodeck time that gets bartered between crew).
 
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Currency is stored labor. Simple concept, esp when dealing with a society that has any labour scarcity.
 
Elbrasch said:
I never understood why "it's a (flawed/shitty) decentralized resource allocation system" should be such a hard concept for feds to grasp. Esp. because they are still dealing with scarcity and resource allocation themself (energy rations, holodeck time that gets bartered between crew).
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I don't think it's the concept that's the problem, they just have issues with the specifics.
 
Prince Charon said:
I don't think it's the concept that's the problem, they just have issues with the specifics.
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Makes sense. Esp. when it comes to paper/coin money. If your society went to all automatic electronic pay and "monthly basic income is so large that I never had to think about it" then physical tokens would be a somewhat OOC problem.
 
Elbrasch said:
I never understood why "it's a (flawed/shitty) decentralized resource allocation system" should be such a hard concept for feds to grasp. Esp. because they are still dealing with scarcity and resource allocation themself (energy rations, holodeck time that gets bartered between crew).
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Being familiar with the concept of money is very different from being familiar with using it.
 
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    • "Well, that wasn't that tricky," Sam commented as she closed the door behind us, "You're right Kys, the currency was more or less self explanatory."

    He nodded, "Indeed."

    "Also, good job with the ID, Leafy," Sam said with a smile, "That was quick work."

    "Honestly, their encryption wasn't very advanced," I said with a shrug, "Once I had a sample it was easy to reverse engineer and have it work with their systems."

    I had transported an ID card from a guy we passed up to orbit where I reverse engineered it with Theresas help. Then we designed and replicated a new one for each of us. Really, they weren't difficult to forge, at least with access of our sensors and matter replicators.

    The check seemed not to go to a central system at all, just take a copy of the information into the local computer where they ran the card.

    Which made things easier.

    "Lucky they don't have a global data net," Sam said and sat down on one of the beds, giving it a small bounce, "Hey, these are nice."

    I moved to sit next to her, "They are," I said and then looked at Kys, "So… what's the plan?"

    "We need to collect information about their society as well as their space program," Kys said, "At the moment, we should focus on gathering general information."

    Sam nodded, "It's getting a bit late though. Get some rest and continue tomorrow?"

    "You two get some sleep," I agreed, "I'm going to take a walk and have a look around."

    Kys looked over at my avatar, "Are your certain that is wise? To split up?"

    I shrugged, "You're still wearing your combadges, I'm still here and can keep an sensor on things."

    Sam frowned, "I think he was more thinking of you than us."

    "...Do these people even have anything that could hurt my avatar without heavy weaponry?"


    XXXXXXXXX


    As it turns out, they did have have weaponry that could hurt my avatar. Or as they called it, music.

    I looked around the club from the corner I was sitting in watching the people dancing. Bagpipes, or something that sounded like it, did not belong with a heavy drum beat and some sort of synth.

    No dress sense. No music taste…

    ...Oh well, like Clara said, the person having worn zebra stripe jumpsuits shouldn't throw stones. Maybe it's a cultural phase.

    The Earth had the nineteen seventies and twenty forties after all.

    ...Actually, so did most planets now when I was thinking about it. Maybe this was theirs.

    I glanced down at my 'shoes'. Yep, definitely their version. After all, what Sam and Kys wore wasn't bad.

    Getting up, I rounded the dancefloor and headed for the door. This music was doing the impossible and made my Quantum Core hurt. I seriously prefered Klingon music, at least that had a bit of a heavy metal thing to it.

    I swear, this made my feathers curl.

    Exiting into the dark night, well, rather well lit to be honest, they seemed to like streetlights as much as humans did, I looked up towards the stars past the buildings.

    This was great.

    Now, where to? Let's have a look at the city center and see what else we can find. There have to have a library equivalent somewhere around here. Even if it was closed at this time of the day, getting the location would be useful for tomorrow.

    Reading through it would give us sooo much of their culture we couldn't easily find in their transmissions. A pity really they didn't have a global datanet. Useful for infiltration, but annoying when it came to finding information about them.

    Now, where I would find it. Libraries are usually close to the center of population centers to make them easily accessible, which meant….

    That way then.

    Heading towards the center of the city as I watched it from above. Taking a shortcut through an alley, one of the locals approached me.

    He pulled a blade from his belt, "Give me your money!"

    I blinked at him, "Why?"
     
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    • .... oh god its that poor lost soul its the guy that keeps trying rob skitter, and now hes branching out to other realities. poor sob
     
    I only hope that the next chapter is a very confused mugger painstakingly explaining the concept of fiat currency as if to a toddler. Or him demanding more, only to start getting scared when she starts pulling out enough to buy a continent.

    Later: "You couldn't go even one day without causing a global catastrophe?"
    "It's just paper!"
     
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    • That seemed to surprise him, "I have a knife!"

    "Yes?" I said, "Why do you want my money?"

    "Forget it! Give it to me!"

    I shook my head, "No."

    He moved closer and I reached and took the knife from his hand before breaking it in half,

    "Stop that, you'd hurt someone," I said as I dropped the pieces, "Why do you want my money?"

    "By Darlegs…" He started to say before he yelled and threw a punch towards my face. Catching the fist, I squeezed it lightly.

    He choked back a yell and fell to his knees, "AAhhhh!"

    I looked down at him with a frown before I let go of his fist and pulled him back onto his feet, "How about we start again?" I asked, "My name is Amy, and you are?"

    He stared at me, clutching his hand with his other, "W-what?"

    "Your name?" I asked with a smile, "Why did you do that?"

    "I-I…" he started to answer, "Klendor. I'm Klendor."

    "Nice to meet you, Klendor," I said with a smile, "So what's this about money?"

    He hesitated and shook his head, "I...I need it."

    "Okay," I said and pulled the folded pills from the pocket of my 'shorts' and handing them over, "Here you go."

    Klendor stared at me, "What."

    "You said you needed it," I said and held it out for him, "Here you go."

    He just seemed terribly confused about the entire thing as he took the money strips, "But… I tried to rob you. Why would you…"

    I shrugged, "You seem to need it. You seem nice enough, so I don't think you rob people because you find it fun."

    "I...I'm not…" he admitted as she stared down at the money in his hand before he pocketed it, "The Support isn't enough."

    "The Support?"

    "You know… what the Gov give to people who don't have jobs."

    I nodded, "Ah. Difficulty finding a job?"

    "Yeah."

    He sighed and rubbed his hand, "Look… thanks, but… you shouldn't be out here alone. There is a lot of…"

    He seemed to realize what he was saying, "You shouldn't be here," he finished lamely.

    "But I'm not alone, am I? You're here," I said with a smile, "Come on, let's walk."

    Klendor seemed to confused to do anything but follow along next to me as we returned to one of the streets. His clothing seemed a lot more sensible than mine, seemingly consisting of some sort of jacket and pants. His head feathers a pale grey, almost white.

    "So why can't you find a job?" I asked, "As you don't want to be robbing people?"

    He sighed, "Was working at transport manufacturing plant before it closed down. Don't really have an education, finding a job is… difficult. Nobody's hiring."

    "You can't get an education?"

    "Can't afford it," he said and then he shrugged, "Not smart enough. Barely finished basic."

    I smiled at him, "Seems plenty smart to me," I said before I frowned at him, "You have a place to stay tonight?"

    Klendor nodded, "...Yeah. I live at a friends place. Look, I'm grateful, but why are you doing this?"

    I smiled at him, "Because I think you are better than what happened back there. That you deserve better, the same as anyone else."

    "...You're a good person," he said and shook his head, "But it's not always that easy. How did you do that by the way?"

    "I'm a space alien."

    That got a laugh from him, "Okay, that's a good one."

    I just smiled at him.

    He paused and his laugh trailed off a bit as he stared at me, "...You're not kidding, are you?
     
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    • And now you've destroyed his only livelihood, how is he supposed to make a living without a knife to mug innocent space aliens with?
    Also, as mentioned: "HEY DON'T TELL ANYONE THAT I'M AN ALIEN, IT'S A SECRET"
    I can never tell if Hiver's going to turn something into a plot point or if it's only for flavor, but I suppose "New AI decides the Prime Directive is stupid, and that it won't make the same mistakes" could be good fodder, even if we've seen similar stories — normally with higher stakes.
     
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    • I just shook my head, "Nope," as we walked into a park, "Really am. You believe me?"

    "I… No, that's impossible," he said and shook his head, "That's not possible."

    "Why?"

    "You can't be an alien!"

    I smiled at him, "Why?"

    "You look Himadorian!"

    I nodded, "Oh yeah. Much easier to come and study your civilization without attracting attention by going as myself," I explained and ran my fingers through the feathers on my head, "This make it a lost easier to blend in."

    He shook his head again, "...That's not possible, that's like something out of a bad science fiction movie. That's crazy."

    "Really?" I asked, "Why?"

    "Because it is!"

    "Hmm," I said and looked up towards the stars, "I see."

    Klendor looked at my avatar for a long moment, "...Okay, let's say you're telling the truth. Why are you here? Invasion?"

    "Oh Stars no," I said and rolled my eyes, "Why would we want to? My kind barely use planets at all," I explained, "Really, it's just a big ball of mostly raw materials that's not really worth hauling out of the gravity well."

    "So why are you here?"

    I smiled at him, "Studying you. Your government is sending your first expedition to your closest moon, we're here to observe and record it for history."

    He sank down to sit on bench, "...I believe you. Why do I belive you?"

    I moved to sit next to him, crossing my legs, "Because you are smarter than you think. You really could go back and get that education you think you can't handle."

    Shaking his head, he sank back against the bench, looking at me, "...Why are you telling me this?"

    Shrugging, I smiled at him, "Why not? What better way of finding out more about you than to ask a local. Standard procedure really. I mean, what better way to learn about a culture?"

    "Aren't you afraid I'll tell someone?"

    "Well…" I said and smiled, "You could if you like, I'm not going to stop you But would anyone believe you?"

    He frowned and then nodded, "I… I suppose you're right. I don't believe it and I'm meeting you. Wait, you're right. This can't be true. You're messing with me."

    Sticking my tongue out at him, "Ask your knife."

    Klendor stared at it in his hands for a moment before, lowering his head into them, "Oh Darlegs… this can't be happening."

    I just scanned him as I let him calm himself back down.

    Getting his breathing back under control, he turned to me, "How do you look Himador?" he asked.

    "Well, my species isn't really like yours," I explained, "This isn't even more than a small part of me. Looking like one of you wasn't that difficult."

    "Oh. What are you really like?"

    I shrugged, "Can't really tell you. Look, even if nobody will ever believe you if you tell them about this, are there limits of what I can reveal. For all I know, you might take what I tell you and invent something that completely throw your civilization into chaos. I don't want to risk that."

    "Well, no chance of that."

    "Don't sell yourself short," I said with a smile, "You are handling this pretty well. But to be honest, this is pushing the rules a bit at it is."

    But everything I told him was true. Seriously, who would believe him?

    "So… you're just studying us?" he asked, "Did you just stumble onto us or…"

    I shook my head, "No. We were watching your transmissions and found that you were about to do this mission so we came to watch. We usually don't actively study civilizations like this, other than special times like this. Mostly we just check in on you from time to time to make sure you don't get hit by a giant asteroid or something."

    Klendor sighed softly, "I suppose that's good to know. So… you're not going to reveal yourself to our people?"

    "No. Not at this time," I said with a small smile, "Normally, we leave other species alone to develop at their own pace, develop their own culture until such time where you are bound to run into others anyway, as when you are about to leave your home system or develop sensors or transmitters that'd let you discover others."

    "I see," He said and shifted the feathers on the side of his head, "So what do you think so far? Of us that is?"

    "Fairly nice," I said with a smile, "Not a great fan of your popular music though."

    "You're not alone on that one."
     
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    • Alternatively: always interfere with cultures with terrible fashion. Uplift their fashion sense.
     
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