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The original was posted on /r/hfy by /u/KyleKKent on 2024-09-27 23:02:30+00:00.

First

(Tried to go to sleep early and get some more rest. Then my body treated it like a nap and I was unable to go back to sleep.)

Love and Longing

“Mister Shay. We need to speak.” Observer Wu states as Miro’Noir awaits an answer about exactly what her fellows have been saying behind her back.

“I…”

“Go ahead darling, without the big bad Bloody Prophet they might deign to speak to The Matchless.” Miro’Noir says with a bit of a pointed barb to their fellows.

“Matchless my rear.” Vernon says giving her a deep kiss. “Can I have another when I come back?”

“Yes my Vernon, you may.” She gushes and they rub noses together for a moment before he steps away from her and towards Observer Wu.

“Very well sir, I am at your disposal.”

“Thank you. If you could step a little away so we don’t interrupt or are interrupted by… your wife’s… politicking?”

“When you’re more or less special forces, office politics can get pointed.” Vernon says in a neutral tone as he follows Observer Wuyto the opposite side of the garden.

“Thank you, now you are an Axiom Expert among The Undaunted correct? One of the better users?”

“I am.”

“You have also pioneered a shortcut to mastering one of the most complicated and powerful Axiom Adept Styles in the galaxy correct?”

“Yes, Transmutation is a justly feared art. The ability to turn any one thing into anything else lets you do… anything, up to and including the complete destruction of markets through over-saturation of scarce resources.”

“Like that trick you did to turn air into gold.”

“You saw my message to my family.”

“I have. It was quite the thing to see. Watching a man display that the monetary system is his toy if he has even the slightest inclination to such.”

“Value is often tied to scarcity, take out the scarcity and you can remove something’s value. It’s why known Transmutation Adepts like me get an unofficial visit from whatever government there is wherever they go.” Vernon explains.

“Really?”

“Oh yes, in an emergency I could be asked to create an important but rare resource, a warship that’s had it’s Axiom Ride ripped out of it’s drive core might contract me to replace it and then use the money they’d use to buy the Axiom Ride to repair the core and use it to post a bounty on the head of whoever took it, with the hunter being permitted to keep the Axiom Ride as added incentive.”

“Has that happened often?”

“Twice.” Vernon states.

“… Hunh.”

“So what do you want to know about Axiom in particular?”

“It’s not the Axiom, its… the alignment of things. You’re more or less a human expert on the intangables of the galaxy, but so little of it makes sense, how and why do they resemble us so much? Not just phsyically but mentally? They’re a costume and culture away from being human, this doesn’t make sense?”

“If the galaxy is pure mathematics with no intangibles, with nothing resembling the mystic or the spiritual then you are right this is impossible.” Vernon says before holding up a hand, fire blossoms in his palm before vines snake out of his sleeve and consume the flames whole before flowering. “But there are intangibles, they are demonstrably provable even in cruel space. There are particles and structures that alter depending on how they are being observed, that means they’re reacting to consciousness.”

“But that’s understandable.”

“Stop being so materialistic about things, there is more than just molecules and atoms to the universe. It is more than just energy and empty space in varying degrees. There is more. So much more that trying to understand it all is simply beyond us mere mortals.”

“Are you a religious man?”

“I didn’t used to be, but I’ve seen so much. Understand so much, and have been humbled so many times. That I have begun to truly believe. There is a divine force, a pattern, a design. And humans fit in that design, as do all living things.”

“Assuming you are correct, that leaves the question to what it is and why.”

“Yes, two of the oldest questions in human history where entire societies turn over the assumptions towards those answers.”

“It’s absurd.” Observer Wu states.

“Absurd? What’s absurd is expecting to somehow understand all things and being offended when you don’t. It’s the height of hubris thinking you can know it all and the more I understand the more I understand THAT above all else.”

“So in other words you just don’t know why all aliens can look so much like each other and us?” Observer Wu asks.

“No. Nor do they and they’ve been looking into it for far, far longer than any civilization we’ve had has existed.” Vernon states.

“And you trust their methodology?”

“I do.” Vernon says simply.

“Without explanation?”

“There is no explanation needed. There is no flawless method to anything and to be frank the more I look at a lot of ‘the science’ back home the more I realize our own methodologies and techniques just don’t work. It’s too much of a popularity contest and not enough of an academic pursuit.” Vernon states. “But that’s neither here nor there. You’re asking me about a subject that goes from Axiom Theory to Biology, from Theology to Quantum Physics and then into Anthropology and Sociology. Every single field of scientific inquiry has their own theories as to why the galaxy is the way it is and they contradict each other a lot less than you’d think.”

“And in general?”

“It all boils down to the idea that there is a plan of some kind. Whether it’s from a divine lord, some great spirit, the will of the galaxy itself or just the first pattern to exist repeating itself infinity it doesn’t matter. Because the pattern is here. And humans fit into it. While we can recognize the pattern, from our position of inside it, we can’t get the full view. We have to correlate with other species, perhaps with all species if we’re to get a full and proper perspective on life. But all species are not here, some are already extinct, others have not evolved yet some may have been prevented from ever evolving due to our own efforts or hubris!”

“So you’re saying the answer is impossible to find.”

“No, I don’t believe there is such a thing as an unanswerable question. But the question of why things are they way they are is very much not something I can answer and it’s not something that anyone can currently answer.” Vernon states.

“Very well, different topic then. How easy is Axiom to use?”

“The basics are a mere act of will, you need to get a small feel for things or talked through it. But beyond that? Beyond that it’s just individual practice, and for many people it’s not worth the effort.”

“Considering that within less than a year you were rearranging matter at a base level I have to wonder how lazy people are to think something like that isn’t worth it.”

“Considering that advanced technology is so ubiquitous and easy to use it very much seems like a silly anachronism to most of the galaxy to practice it, and then you get to the level of an Adept. Someone who actually knows what they’re doing and understands the process. That’s when things get dangerous, powerful and very, very useful.”

“But it’s still ignored?”

“What’s easier for creating a high intensity fireball? Studying and practising with obsessive focus for weeks on end, or picking up a plasma pistol? Getting the pistol at most takes five minutes of research, maybe two hours of travel time at the extreme outside edge and a couple hundred in credits for a cheap one. If you want to go from one place to another you can study the myriad of teleportation techniques which require precision and focus, or you can call an auto-cab for so cheap that some apartment leases include unlimited cab use as part of the rent.”

“Really?”

“In a major city you can get a yearly pass for less than the plasma pistol.” Vernon says and Observer Wu nods.

“I think I’m starting to see now. Which now brings us to the next point.”

“Which is?”

“You’re fairly deep in the romance scene correct?”

“Pick any five seconds I’m with my Miro’Noir and you won’t have to ask that question.”

“What are the marital traditions you know about?”

“There are many of them. The Oath Dance is one for instance. A dance and song designed to seduce the husband. It can be very formal or not, but it’s considered fairly formal. For the most part the galaxy over however most women simply… claim a man and that’s all. I think it evolved from a social pressure to lock a man down as quickly and thoroughly as possible. Rush through things so that they have some authority to push another girl away.”

“Really?”

“Yes, but that’s one of those things that’s not really official anywhere, just a social norm that’s been floating around for so long it’s effectively an unspoken law.”

“Any others?”

“This one of those things that if I start even listing off examples we’re going to be here for a very long time. Each species has it’s standards and each culture within the species has their own. Gohbs share shiny gifts and more primitive ones will carve skull shaped jewellery, as such Admiral Cistern has a collection of hand carved jade necklaces and rings that make it look like he plundered an Aztec Temple. Many feathered races consider it very romantic to give your husband a feather to wear. And martial cultures will give weapons at times. Which is why The hat with the enormous plume in it that Admiral Cistern occasionally wears is a big statement of intent from Lady Ticanped,…

Content cut off. Read original on https://old.reddit.com/r/HFY/comments/1fr0ksz/oocs_into_a_wider_galaxy_part_124/