8th April 2013
17:20 GMT
I walk across the grass field that was once home to my tasmanian tiger pack. The yips and barks are absent, as are the curious pups and their foster parents. All shipped down to Earth, to zoos and nature reserves who will make certain that they never go extinct again.
Huh. Melancholic.
I'm glad to have done it, no doubt. I don't like it when unique things vanish from the world, and people were generally happy to have them back. It's good work, even if it's not associated with my core 'thing'. But the fact is that I just don't have the time to spend on this sort of project any longer, so…
I'm shutting it down.
I spot Guan checking the health of one of the trees. He and a small team of genomorphs kept things ticking over in my absence, but there was a micrometeorite impact this week that caused an earthquake which undermined one of the domes, and… They don't have the skills or equipment to fix things like that, and… Current generation genomorphs have better people skills but Guan is a little older. I don't know what the others have planned for his team. Doing the same job on Tamaran or Karna, perhaps?
A few paces behind me Luna is looking around, but I can tell that she finds the structure itself more interesting than the grassland. She tears her eyes away from the hologram-free dome and the starry sky beyond for a moment, studying my face as I look at her.
She frowns faintly. "Does this place have happy memories for you?"
"It may surprise you to hear it, but I don't actually
relish moral ambiguity. This was one of the few unarguably
good and
selfless things I did on my own initiative. But after the dodos and giant turtles, there… There aren't a lot of species that Earth is really
missing. And I don't really have the time to work here any longer."
She walks closer, bumping my right leg with her left shoulder in a gesture of support.
"What will you do with it?"
I look around. "Can't leave any animals here. It's designed to be accessed by boom tube only, and I'll have to remove the tube generator
here when we finish shutting it down. So there's no point giving it to the European Space Agency or anything like that. Can't
move it…"
I shrug as I reach down to fondle her mane with my right hand. Obviously I
can move it, but there's not a lot of point. Tamaran has more than enough wilderness to resurrect species on ranches, with no space habitats required. And anywhere else, it would be easier to build something new.
"Would not Sir Lex's space navy have some use for it?"
I shake my head. "No. I asked, and they actually have more use for the
outside of Titan than they do for this place. If they want to train for fighting in Earth-like conditions they can do that on
Earth, and I didn't design this reserve to replicate radically different environments." I sigh. "Places like this are actually a feature of a lot of systems, when the locals did a lot of space travel before discovering a faster-than-light drive. Way stations and fuel silos that stopped being useful and… Weren't worth dragging back to be dismantled. Some of them end up as tourist attractions, or… Something."
"Didst you ever visit with your children?"
"Oh, yes. I didn't want the puppies to get too tame, but dodos and…
Ground parrots… Ah, they're not competitive. They'd just die out in the wild, so it really doesn't matter if they're tame. Helps, honestly, because people look after their pets."
"Did they not take them as pets?"
"No. Birds aren't really a good fit for a fortified mountain, and they'd just get eaten outside. And they're not… Ah, not intelligent enough to play like a dog or a cat or.. a raven could. I don't know, none of them have really said anything about wanting a pet, and…"
I'm rubbing the fur behind her ears. As my fingers stop moving she cranes her neck, pushing them into her scalp. Then she stops, jerking her head around so that she can stare up at me with narrowed eyes.
"Thou had
best not-."
"Humans still have all the instincts of our furry ancestors and no way to actually enact them with their bald bodies, alright? That's half the appeal of having furry animals around. We don't need them as mousers or for protection or anything. You happen to scratch the same instinct. Do ponies not..? Groom each other?"
"Yes
s." She give her mane a small toss, returning the top of her head to the optimal head massage position. "Though your fingers are more dextrous than hooves or tongue."
"Tongue? Should I be concerned?"
She frowns. "Why wouldst you be concerned about Our Sister's tongue?"
"And now I'm concerned for entirely different reasons."
Luna rolls her eyes. "Grooming another's coat is a perfectly normal way to strengthen familial bonds. Not whatever your depraved mind is thinking."
"Depraved? No, it's just…" I shudder theatrically. "
Celestia."
"Your quarrel with Our-"
"I mean, if it had been someone
else…"
"-
Sister grows wearisome. Mayhap you would benefit from reading
Her Student's book?"
"I don't
hate her. I just dislike her because of what she's failed to do with the country. I only rag on her as a joke." … "Ninety…
Five percent as a joke."
Luna huffs quietly, though the top of her head stays under my fingers.
"Whilst we are on the subject of Sister, she hath raised an idea."
"Loins
girded. Hit me."
"Our retirement. Naturally, We would wish to complete Our review and revival of the Royal Guard
first, but… Sister has ruled Equestria for more than a thousand years. We can well understand how she would prefer to change her life at long last."
"Well, I won't complain about being able to spend more time with you. But I thought that you
liked participating in government?"
"We find satisfaction in improving Our nation, it is true. But that does not require Us to be the supreme regnant authority. The role We have made for Ourself requires that Our Sister remains as principle ruler, and if she is unwilling…"
"Okay, so what sort of government was she thinking of installing instead? And what sort of timeline did you have in mind?"
"I believe that Our Sister had in mind stepping down in two to three years." Wha-? "And that Her Student would ascend once more to become Princess Regnant."
"Oh
gosh that's a terrible idea."
"Why? Sunset hath shown no interest in-."
"Nonono, not that. Twilight Sparkle is… What, in her early twenties?"
"That is correct."
"And she's occupied… No government offices at all? And has no experience in national governance?"
"She hath served as an aide on a number of occasions, but… No. She hath held none of the offices of state.
We also did not hold such offices."
"But you were a bit older. Right?" She nods. "And Equestria was a lot smaller and less connected when you came to power. And-." I wince. "Knowing what I do of Celestia's methods, I assume that Twilight hasn't been warned and isn't going to receive specific training?"
"We-ll… We do not know for certain that Sister will not…" Her eyes flick away. "Probably."
"If you really want to do that, Twilight needs warning, training and… Frankly, I'd say that the country needs about twenty years to adjust, which is fine because that's about how long she'll need to learn the skills to do the job. Actually switching to another system of government would take even longer." I close my eyes and exhale through my nose. "Why don't we go and..? Talk to Celestia about this?"
