4523
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4523.270
We first awoke on 4523.197 aboard the Prosperity and have been hurtling through the stars ever since. It has been quite a transition living on a space ship, though clearly more so for Ambrose and Doolish than for myself. Ambrose still routinely inquires about whether anyone has need for a leatherworker; I don't think he has fully grasped what automation has done to traditional trades. Some part of me hopes to end up on a medieval planet just so he gets to make a leather vest again instead of getting shown up by a nanofactory.
Our journey started in the remote Saga Sector, which I have learned is the farthest sector of known human civilization from the Earth I knew, in what is now called the Terran Sector. Human civilization expanded along the Orion Spur, first through what is now the Old Frontiers Sector, then into what is now the Federation Sector, then to the Corporate Sector, then to the Phoenix Sector, and finally to the Saga Sector, where the Promethean Foundation maintains ties to a remote outpost and research facility on a world named Mersault. In fact, the longest leg of our journey to Center, where our ship awaits us, was the first, a 40.2 parsec run from Mersault to Paragon.
It was in Paragon that the politics of the galaxy began to make themselves clear. Paragon is an independent world with social, political and, primarily, commercial ties to the Phoenix Sector. At the time of our arrival, we learned that Paragon was infected by a plague and was under quarantine. Travel on and off the planet surface was heavily restricted, and we were prohibited from visiting. We learned later that the Paragonians blamed Cornwall - the next planet on our itinerary, and a Phoenix Domain member - for spreading the plague to them. Of course, the conspiratorial aspect of this is only amplified by how Cornwall just so happens to manufacture a remedy for this plague, but obviously Cornwall and the Phoenix Domain deny all allegations and blame it on an insect. Whatever the truth, it is clear that interplanetary tensions are high in the galaxy.
Cornwall was another 26 parsecs, and Lungold, an intermediate destination, was another 6.8 parsecs beyond that. Lungold is a major world in the Phoenix Domain, with a population comparable to Earth in the 20th century. My Earth. We were scheduled to meet Duke Zaxo Aquarius on Lungold, an ally of the Prometheans and one of our benefactors. Carter told us that he is one of the major funders of our operation, which isn't cheap. Our ship is going to cost tens - if not hundreds - of millions of dollars. The Duke's role in the Phoenix Domain is not entirely clear. He is likely somehow related to the Emperor and his title has something to do with commerce, but his specific duties and powers remain a little bit of a mystery to me. I honestly had no idea what to expect in our upcoming meeting.
For the first half of our trip, Ambrose, Doolish, and I kept mostly to ourselves. The crew of the Prosperity thought we were the grandchildren of the Duke and were essentially instructed to keep their distance from us. They did not initiate any conversations with us or try to include us in any of the ship's activities. Our cover story indicated we had been recently liberated from being held hostage for years. This was well and good at keeping us from exposing ourselves as the outsiders we are, but also extremely boring. Once I discovered the presence of a bar and what I can only describe as a space disco lounge, the whole notion of keeping separated went out the airlock. I was amazed to find the jukebox had a number of songs I was familiar with, so I joined in on karaoke night. I got to know a few of the crew and got to see how they "got down" in the 46th century. Let's just say that people are a lot more liberated! It was fun getting to know some of the regular people. I didn't get to know many of the officers; they were forbidden from socializing with the normals.
Beyond seeing people in the context of the bar and in my quarters, I had an opportunity to use the gym and even see what kinds of martial arts some of the crew practiced. It was interesting to see that the average skill level of the participants was pretty high. Much higher than in my time. Most people where I lived back on Earth barely even knew about martial arts, and, of those, only a tiny fraction were remotely competent. The techniques and movements they know in the 46th century are clearly a hybrid of some earlier styles. I recognized the influence of taekwondo, judo, Muay Thai, and Greco-Roman wrestling. Somewhere along the lines, bits and pieces from these styles were taken and meshed together. I can see the logic of the style evolution, though it is clear to me that a lot of the adjustments must have been made for sport competition reasons. It was a little strange to see some of the techniques used out of the context of their broader disciplinary framework, and in a lethal fight, many of the adjustments would, in my opinion, prove to be a disservice to the practitioner. But, for someone bound by the rules of a competition, I can see why certain things were dropped and others retained. Overall, I was still impressed at what average people could do. I also know I can get a fallback job in a dojo if this whole mana search thing goes sideways. (Which it inevitably will)
I have been thinking a lot about mana, actually. I don't know how long we were in The Hole, or how long we were asleep, but however long that was, it has now been another two and a half months on top of that that I've been living without mana. They say that space has no mana (I haven't felt the tiniest hint of it), and that it is rare in the galaxy. Some words out there are believed to have it, but none of the known worlds seem to. So much of my life has been devoted to magic; I feel like only half a person out here. I felt that way in The Hole as well. I hope the NEMA reactor can spark that missing part of me, and I hope beyond that that we do find mana out there, even if just to feel it again. With the exception of the Cabal, wherever they are, humanity seems to have completely lost touch with magic. We have been told that no one among the billions of people out there knows the first thing about magic, and they haven't in perhaps thousands of years. Some believe the absence of mana has led to the absence of magicians. Of course, it is impossible to test this theory without mana, but they could be right.
We made it to Lungold and to our meeting with the Duke without event. We went through a gauntlet of large doors, large rooms, servants, underlings, bureaucrats, and even a wardrobe change before finally being ushered into the Duke's meeting chamber. It was a high-ceilinged room with huge glass panes overlooking some vista on Lungold. We met for hours and learned a little of the Duke, the Phoenix Domain, the Cabal, and the nature of all things. The highlight was that, somehow, human civilization had preserved the knowledge of how to make Champagne. I don't know if I'm allowed to call it Champagne if it's made on Lungold, but it tasted just like the stuff from France. This, despite a millennium-long dark age that set in after Earth was destroyed in the 25th century, after evidently colliding with a black hole. I think there are some unanswered questions there. I don't see a black hole just sneaking up on Earth and colliding with it out of nowhere, but I do see the Cabal doing something completely outrageous like that.
The subject of the Cabal did come up in our meeting with the Duke. We learned that the Phoenix Domain had likely encountered the Cabal, when one of its fleets was lost in a battle with an unknown enemy at the edge of its territory. The aftermath of that conflict is still unknown, as are the specifics of the conflict. The Duke only knew that the Phoenix Domain encountered a superior force, lost, and then... nothing, really. That's all he knew. If the Emperor knew more, he certainly hadn't told Zaxo about it. Just as with the disappearance of Earth, it was clear to me that this matter was also going to require some further investigation.
We concluded our meeting with Zaxo and returned to the Prosperity. The last thing he did was give us Carter, who was apparently his property, as slavery is allowed in the Phoenix Domain. I find the notion of owning someone more than a little off-putting, and I am pleased to learn that Ambrose and Doolish feel the same way, so we have offered Carter her freedom, if she wants it. It is my hope the rest of the journey goes without incident. There are some interesting worlds on our itinerary, but I want to keep as low a profile as possible, at least until we have the first clue of what we're doing. The Phoenix Domain and the Corporate Sector seem a little hostile, and the more exposure we get, the more likely it is that some word of our existence reaches the Cabal. That's something we cannot afford right now. We're playing in a game where they hold all the cards.