Amanda Hawk Personal Diary, June 7th, 2124
For the third time in four years, I've found myself drawn back to Concordia again. It's funny sometimes to think about, a station that I ordered built, but have never served on as a member of the government. In this, I'll be coming as close to that as I've done since leaving office. I know what Insight is, I know what it can do. I stood in power when Phoebe brought the UPI report forward, giving us concrete proof that the Shiplords could be defeated if the galaxy stood as one. That the war we'd been dragged into by the Week of Sorrows held the chance of victory. It took months for me to fully process that, and that had been with the knowledge that Insight existed. What I've been asked to do here, albeit with the help of the diplomatic corps, was explain much more than the UPI report. They're asking me to help them explain what Insight is.
The Contact Fleet knows that we have some source of knowledge far beyond what we should have, I as much as told them that myself during Second Contact. But there's a difference between what could be databanks taken from mostly intact Collectors, as unlikely as that would be, and what Insight truly is. When the Project first came into being, it was hard for us to believe. Phoebe spent months, years, working to prove that what she'd helped create was true. That we could trust what she and the other Insight Focused dedicated to the Project found out there, in the spaces between spaces. We still barely understand it, only know that it's true. How do I explain that? Where do I even begin?
The Diplomatic Corps asked me to do this, and I'll do all I can. Phoebe's come to help too, with information gleaned from Thoughtcasts on the Contact Fleet containing information that should be quite impossible for us to know. But in the end, it's down to me to actually make a plan that might work. I know these representatives well, a few of them have exchanged communications with me since my last visit. What Insight does is close enough to the Reverie that I think Lorelli might believe me, but that relies on logic that she can't explain without breaking open a secret her people have been keeping for centuries. I can't ask her to do that. The rest…I know I've made inroads in trust, but what I'm asking them to believe is far more fantastical than anything else I've shown them. Even Speaking. When I freed those infected with Shiplord nanoagents, they were able to see it happen. There was an energy release, I was able to…not explain with at least a foundation of material truth.
What Insight does is terribly powerful, but all that strength is so fragile when we don't have the means to properly explain it. It took us years, years that the representatives of the Contact Fleet don't have, but this is the one chance we get for this. I need to find a way to make the Contact Fleet not just trust that Insight is what we say it is, but be able to prove that to their superiors. That's the only way that we win. No pressure, eh?
Mary told me I was worrying too much when I set off this morning. Maybe she's right. Phoebe's brought information on not just the Contact Fleet or its representatives, but also its architects. The people that Lorelli and Kendl and all the rest will report to in their respective governments. If I can prove things to the Contact Fleet's representatives, sending that information back could go a long way to proving what Insight can do. More than that though, she's given me information of the peoples of the Contact Fleet. Their histories. Things that don't appear anywhere in their cultural exchange packages, that we couldn't know without something like Insight. And fortunately, at this point we're past the point where they're likely to consider us a Shiplord 'trap'. If we were, there'd be no point keeping up the ruse any longer.
I only hope that it'll work.
How do you approach the matter of Project Insight's existence with the Contact Fleet?
[] Carefully – The information you've been given is extensive, but you're going to need to be careful not to break too much of it too soon. This will be a hard sell, but you don't want to break too many more minds with this. What you're trying to explain existing is bad enough.
[] Steadily – There's a middle ground between too much and too little. It's hard to find, even more so when dealing with six representatives of very different societies, but you've learnt enough about the representatives to be a good judge, you think. Use what you feel is needed, but not more.
[] Shockingly – Dazzle them. Be open with what Insight has let you discover, use it to help make them believe that it's true. This isn't necessarily the nicest of options available to you, and it may prove too much for a few. But it'll get the point across, that's for damn sure.
