Fragments of Rakhasim

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[[Back to Home Page->Home]] <<nobr>><<set _options to [ ]>> <<set _options[0] to ["1.59.Ɛ00 tunits", "207,481 seconds", "3,458 minutes", "58 hours", "2 days"]>> <<set _options[1] to ["five gigatunits", "four hundred fifty-nine years"]>> <<set _options[2] to ["hebdotunits", "years"]>> <<set _options[3] to ["ㄊㄩㄌㄛㄋ–ㄧㄋㄚㄍ", "Tylon-Inag", "/tʰaɪ.lon i.nak/", "Tilon-Enoch"]>> <<set _options[4] to ["Ðesa ken?", "/ðɛ.sa kʰɛn/", "This when?", "How old is this ship?"]>> <<set _options[5] to ["Zju hafas e dekarab naodozkarab tunoto bérefaro", "/tsju ha.vas ɛ tɛkʰ.a.rap na.o.tots.kʰa.rap tʰu.no.tʰo pə.rɛ.va.ro/", "Continuous-without-change have-indicative from dek billion nine-gross million tunit family", "It's been in the family for dek billion nine-gross million tunits", "It's been in the family for almost a thousand years"]>> <<set _options[6] to ["i sdel flugi pré!", "/i stɛl vlu.ki pʰrə/", "and same-quality-as-past fly proud!", "and it still flies!"]>> <<set _options[7] to ["1.8 sunits", "167 centimeters", "5.5 feet"]>> <<set _options[8] to ["0.125 sunits", "12 centimeters", "5 inches"]>> <<set _options[9] to ["Báton njui hafi ka, ðasa es?", "/peɪ.tʰon nju.i ha.vi kʰa ða.sa ɛs/", "Offspring-object you have uncertain, that is?", "You have a kid?"]>> <<set _options[10] to ["Ðesa fifjékta báto, ja. Ri zju bu hablas ykin e bodim hebdotunotoim ge.", "/ðɛ.sa vi.vjəkʰ.tʰa peɪ.tʰon ja ri tsju pu hap.las aɪ.kʰin ɛ po.tim hɛp.to.tʰu.no.tʰo.im kɛ/", "This female offspring, yes. Ri continuous-without-change no speak-indicative I-object from many-plural hebdotunit-plural plural.", "Yes, I have a midquinary child. Ri hasn't spoken to me in many hebdotunits.", "Yes, I have a midquinary child. Ri hasn't spoken to me in many years."]>> <<set _options[11] to ["Ri nengi hafi ðesa fádŝuanon, ðasa es?", "/ri nɛŋ.i ha.vi ðɛ.sa veɪ.tʂu.an.on ða.sa ɛs/", "Ri may have this spaceship, that is?", "Will ri get the ship?"]>> <<set _options[12] to ["Turi ðesan jueu, bélyg bu ðĵidaji rugua dŝius ðesan ka. Firas séblédaŝingon ef ðesa idŝano ka je.", "/tʰu.ri ðɛ.san ju.ɛ.u pə.laɪk pu dʒi.ta.ji ru.ku.a tʂi.us ðɛ.san kʰa vi.ras sə.plət.a.ʂin.kon ɛv ðɛ.san i.tʂa.no kʰa jɛ/", "Recipient-ri this-object give-volitive but no know-dubitative if take-conditional this-object uncertain. Fear-indicative stop-object of this legacy uncertain also.", "I want to give this ship to rir, but I don't know if ri would take it. I fear this legacy ends with me."]>> <<set _options[13] to ["comworks", "communication networks", "internet"]>> <<set _options[14] to ["comworks", "communication networks", "internet"]>> <<set _options[15] to ["Ŝnekobergáso. It.", "/ʂnɛ.kʰo.pɛr.keɪ.so itʰ/", "Slugburger. Eat.", "Here's a slugburger. Eat up."]>> <<set _options[16] to ["Ðanke.", "/ðan.kʰɛ/", "Thank.", "Thank you."]>> <<set _options[17] to ["Ðanke.", "/ðan.kʰɛ/", "Thank.", "You're welcome."]>> <</nobr>>I had been escorting the elderly transhuman through the mountains for three rotations, or roughly <<storyCycle>>, when we finally reached zir ship. It was a collage, cobbled together from countless parts. Some pieces appeared at least <<storyCycle>> old, while others looked just a few <<storyCycle>> old. On the side of the ship was written "<<storyCycle>>", what I could only presume to be zir family-name. Zi hadn't actually told me zir name, and I had learned long ago that it was better not to ask. "<<storyCycle>>", I asked, motioning to the ship. "<<storyCycle>>", zi replied, "<<storyCycle>>". I was astounded. The transhuman took me inside, and had me sit down in the kitchen while zi prepared a meal - a gift for the help, in addition to my payment, I suppose. The ship was a shabby one, metal plates soldered on metal plates, existing in a constant state of repair. I would be surprised if any of the ship's original pieces were still present. The kitchen had an electric autocooker; a fridge; four buckets with lids on, presumably filled with water; a ladder going up to a microwave on top of the fridge; a tank full of slugs and plants; a shelf of six meatcrates; a garbage bin; two oxygen canisters; and a couple cabinets. The microwave was tied to the fridge and to the ceiling, the meatcrates were tied down to the shelves, and the slug tank was tied down to a table. <center><img src="https://newarcade.cc/images/fragmentsofrakhasim1.png" width="50%"></center> On the wall opposite to the fridge was a picture of the transhuman when zi was younger, and someone who looked similar to them, albeit even younger. The transhuman was about average height - <<storyCycle>> - and the other person was around <<storyCycle>> shorter. They both had brown skin and thin eyes. The transhuman had dark hair, while the other person's hair was dyed blue. The transhuman had a prosthetic arm, and a number of cybernetic implants across zir body. In the photo, zi were dressed in flamboyant, rainbow robes. Today, zi was dressed in worn-down, plain robes. The other person in the photo was wearing dark clothing, with a large number of bracelets on one arm. With some uncertainty, I inquired, "<<storyCycle>>" The transhuman turned to me, a somber look on zir face. "<<storyCycle>>" "<<storyCycle>>" "<<storyCycle>>" Zi turned back to the electric stove, and continued cooking. I fiddled with the off-black box embedded in my arm. It was my universal translator, though universal was a misnomer. I could download language files off the <<storyCycle>> and the built-in AIs would use them to translate the given languages. I couldn't actually speak Huma - or any of the humanic languages, for that matter - despite it being the most widely spoken language among humans, with Sol-Standard Huma having served as an oddly persistent literary lingua franca for several thousand years. Many of the Huma-speaking people of this region spoke a dialect that was surprisingly similar to literary Huma, with the few differences being automatically guessed at by the translator AI. The translator took three inputs simultaneously: one from a microphone contained in the device, another from a small camera in the device, and the third from signals in my brain, specifically my vision and hearing. It converted all of this to machine-readable data, and compared the text and speech to the data found in the various downloaded language files. It would then hand a literal translation over to a large language model, which would then analyze the translation, along with the temporary memory bank holding both previous translations and recent camera, microphone, and brain data, and generate a mostly-accurate translation. Of course, the quality of the translation was dependent on the language files available and the models of AI, but I had a fairly good translator, and high-quality files for many of the major humanic languages were abundant on the <<storyCycle>>. For most languages, if you wanted to translate your own speech for others you would simply press a button on the box, speak into the microphone, and then it would play a translation through an embedded speaker. For other languages however, such as Huma, there was a much more efficient method. I felt the fluency stick embedded in my neck - a USB stick-shaped object, capable of interfacing with my thoughts and my translator, puppeteering my mouth to speak in Huma. Unfortunately, fluency sticks are hard to come by, and I was lucky to have gotten one for any humanic language, let alone Huma itself. The elderly transhuman turned to me with a plate, and handed it to me. "<<storyCycle>>" "<<storyCycle>>", I said, taking the plate and performing the local gratefulness gesture - crossing one's thumbs with palms open facing oneself, moving them towards and away from oneself in a butterfly motion twice, followed by an exaggerated headnod. The elderly transhuman reciprocated the gesture, as per custom. "<<storyCycle>>", he said. I finished my slugburger with zir, took my payment, and exited the ship, watching it fly away. I went on my way.

<<nobr>> <<widget "storyCycle">><<if ndef _instance>><<set _instance to 0>><<else>><<set _instance++>><</if>><<cycle "_cycles[_instance]" autoselect>><<optionsfrom _options[_instance]>><</cycle>><</widget>> <</nobr>>

[[Episode Three: The Ancient Ship->The Ancient Ship]] - 12/19/24 [[Episode Two: Eight Degrees of Freedom->Eight Degrees of Freedom]] - 11/6/23 [[Episode One: Europa->Europa]] - 2/7/23

[[Back to Home Page->Home]] As the sun rises, an elf awakens from their slumber. The sunlight filters through the plastic windows of the tent, and they feel the welcoming embrace of their sleeping bag. They consider getting up, but they stop. They lay still. When they finally hear it, the color drains from their face. The ice has a heartbeat.

[[Back to Home Page->Home]] Ninety-two feet and a thousand more to spare. Every tile he stepped on had a history more complex than anything known to man. Life had emerged and gone extinct a million times in the cracks between the pavement. It was all contaminated, it would all decay. Abiogenesis was an everyday occurrence, a billion wars were waged over femtometers of concrete, galaxy-spanning empires rested on the backs of eight-dimensional bacteria. He didn't care, it didn't matter anymore. He kept walking.