[Draft] If you thought things grew big in Texas...

[Feinan]

OK. This came about from a number of things - me working on the Jason's catalog, and realizing that with all of the troubles with the zwilniks and the
Boskonians, the Jason would be wanting something a bit..sturdier than the Lightning to use as a base. Plus, this has
the added bonus of giving a LOT of extra room for experimentation. The downside is that, even with all the work he's put into it so far, there's still
a lot to do. Many of the available levels on this new...ship...are still unfinished, bare spaces for storage until the time and materials can be found to
finish them. *grin* However...it's also very great advertising. I'm still coming up with the write-up for the ship; most of this hit me today at work
while doing data-entry, and I wanted to get it down. Opinions? Too over the top. maybe? I'd like to hear feedback from folks, please?

_____________________________________________________________

Although Operation Great Justice and the fighting with the Boskonians, as well as several actions by various zwilnik 'recruiters' were the final
trigger, the method of the Jason's arrival at Phobos in the summer of 2014 started several years before, back in 2010. He'd created a masterpiece of
biomodification for people to use...and some were, yes. But...none of them were using his creations to their full potential. The clients were always asking him
to suspend the growth phase before things had ever really gotten started. He'd left one growing all by itself, hidden away in a seldom-visited portion of
the Belt...wanting to have something spectacular to show people. Then...when the troubles started, he decided it could serve a different purpose. Oh, he
could...and would...enhance the Fateful Lightning's defenses. But, she'd been built in a time of peace. His
new ship....she'd been designed to carry families...children. In a fashion that HE'D deemed safe...

________________________________________________________________________________

The Jason was up to something - that was nothing new. The Jason was always up to something. But for the last year or so, the rumors were flying fast and
furious that he was involved in something major. Everybody was talking about it...mainly because he was calling in favors and making deals WITH everyone. There
were large orders for Wire Geek and Hephaestus, items requested from the Professor that were just barely short of
insane, a known order for a very LARGE Interwave transmitter, talks with Buckaroo, with Fred...and Kohran Li. And many others. Whatever he was doing, it was
obviously going to be big. So when Fate called ahead and requested an isolated parking orbit, well away from other traffic, the rumor mill at Port Phobos
immediately went into overdrive.

____________________________________________________

Tom settled into his chair, putting his coffee on his desk as he looked over the monitors. Fairly normal morning, everybody actually keeping to their assigned
orbits without problems...though that wouldn't last. It hardly ever did for long. He looked up as Kathy, one of the on-duty techs came up with a
diagnostic scanner and started looking over the long-range scanner on the next desk over. "Problem?"

She shook her head. "Matt said he was getting some odd readings that didn't make sense. He wanted me to look it over." She finished a diagnostic
cycle, then shook her head. "Everything's clear..." She started the machine back up, and then whistled softly. "Great Ghu! I see what he was
talking about. That can't be right...."

Getting up, Tom went and glanced over the tech's shoulder. Incoming vessel, size...Tom's eyes widened. "What the hell?!" The pair glanced at
each other, and then went to activate a visual scanner. Tom shook his head. "Whatever it is, it's on..." He called up scheduled orbits, and
frowned. "...on the Jason's flight path. But that can't be the Lightning." Kathy laughed, a little
nervously. "Not unless he's found a way to make cars and trucks actually grow bigger. Though with him, who kno...." She broke off as the monitor
finally showed a picture of the incoming craft. Neither said a word....as the monitor displayed a majestic, giant tree drifting serenely on its way. A tree
with a silvery trunk and green-black leaves....that was over a mile long. For several long moments, only the sounds of
electronic equipment were heard in the room, until a voice came in over the communicator. "Ahoy, Port Phobos. This is the Jason aboard the Yggdrasil. I'm on my assigned path, and should be there shortly. Everything OK on your end?"

Tom reached out and hit the 'send' switch. "F-fine on this end, Jason. Uh...new ship?"

There was a mischievous chuckle over the speaker. "The Yggdrasil? Yeah, just a...little something I've been
working on."

__________________________________________________________

The Yggdrasil is about 1.25 miles long, and 600 feet in diameter through most of the trunk. The bark and outer layers
are 20 feet thick, and between the metal and mineral content in the wood, the ship could really be described as living petrified wood. Handwaved petrified wood, so it's not exactly fragile. The ship is capable of docking the Fateful Lightning internally.

[robkelk]

Oooooh, daddy want...

Although I am a bit worried about one thing:

talks with Buckaroo, with Fred...and Kohran Li.

What in the name of Cromm could Kohran possibly suggest for the Yggdrasil? She makes things go boom... (LED comes on over head) Oh, dear.
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[Feinan]

*chuckles* Lovely reaction, rob...

She makes things go boom... (LED comes on over head) Oh, dear.

*grins evilly* Yes...yes, she does. And when being annoyed by Boskonians and zwilniks, the Jason is also in favor of making things go boom.
Preferable said Boskonians and zwilniks. Hence also talking with Fred...who likes railguns. And my own use of KKVs.
The Lightning was decently armed, though hardly a fighting ship. The Yggdrasil...isn't a ship designed to take the fight to the enemy, even now. It was, however, designed so that if the enemy
ever came to her, she wouldn't be the one in the casualty column at the end of the day.

[M Fnord]

Holy shit, it's a treeship.

*stamps APPROVED without bothering to look twice*
Mr. Fnord interdimensional man of mystery

FenWiki - Your One-Stop Shop for Fenspace Information

"I. Drink. Your. NERDRAGE!"

[Norgarth]

And orders from the Tenchi-fen start to pour into his mailbox.
___________________________
"I've always wanted to be somebody, but I should have been more specific." - George Carlin

[Feinan]

Oh, I've already been getting orders from Tenchi-fen. My smaller, Juraian-class treeships are popular, but only
about 100-150 feet in length, and fairly stocky-looking to grant enough space to work with inside. I've even sold a few of the Yggdrasil-class ships, but everybody was always buying them when they were only 200-300 feet long or so, sometimes a little more.
They were always having me suppress their growth while the trees were really just saplings. The Yggdrasil is itself
fullly grown, and what I intended the ship class to be: the hull for a colony ship.

[Cobalt Greywalker]

GAH. Now I have Greenpeace in my head DEMANDING we get her friggin' DYSON TREES working.

[Bob Schroeck]

Okay, now that is very cool. Even the folk on the Corners are going to be envying you.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

[Feinan]

You know....I was plugging the numbers tonight, trying to get a feel for how big the Yggdrasil was...in terms of usable space. Figuring 20' outer
walls, a 30' diameter central core, and ignoring the fact that there are probably any number of smaller bracing veins/columns...a single layer/chamber of
the tree in the central trunk would come out to around 3.75....acres. At a rough average of a hundred layers through the central trunk (plus some others in the
smaller sections above that), and leaving room for various functions the tree would need...figure one hundred layers at 50' tall each, some smaller for
rooms/houses/functional spaces, a few larger - 200' tall to allow a few groves of trees...well, that comes to roughly 375 acres. Though not all of it is
immediately useable at the time of Yggy's appearance. A lot is being used for storage as the Jason works on getting set up. Still, quite a bit of
room for play. I might need to hire a horde of older fenkinder or maybe some ninjas as farmhands, though.

And there's one whole layer devoted solely to blood orange trees, an entire grove of them. The Robert A. Heinlein Memorial Orchard.

*grin* Still brainstorming the Tree. I've got definite ideas, and I hope to get a few more scenes posted to this thread sometime soon.

[Bob Schroeck]

375 acres is more space than the Corners has -- I explicitly sized it to be 250 acres. My hat's off to The Jason -- he definitely has the biggest
friggin' ship-thing in Fenspace.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

[Norgarth]

O_O Now I know why you named them the Yggdrasil-class. World tree indeed.
___________________________
"I've always wanted to be somebody, but I should have been more specific." - George Carlin

[Feinan]

Only at the moment. Somebody else will come along, most likely. But yes....that IS why I named the class after Yggdrasil. I intended them to be capable of
carrying a fully-functional colony, with everything that a colony would need to set up shop on another planet. But nobody seemed to be realizing just how much
space one of these trees could hold when full-grown. So, not only is Yggy a great ship, she's wonderful advertising. *grin* I still envy
Grover's Corners though, Bob. All of your space is all together. A lot more room to walk/romp in without worrying about walls. That, and a lot of the
chambers in Yggdrasil are still bare - storage only, or just the bare necessities. It will be YEARS before he can get all of the chambers filled with
a good layer of soil for growing things. Probably even decades before the last chamber is complete. Definitely a work-in-progress.

*chuckle* And the power rooms take up a chamber or two all of their own. There are various reasons for this including a lot of tech that will eventually NEED a
lot of power. But the other is just the desire to have enough power to never run out. Probably a lot of what he got from Wire Geek and the Professor were
involved here, and will grow over the next few years. Right now, it can only power New York. City, unfortunately, not the state. His eventual goal is to get
enough power generators of various types online to power the East and West coasts....with enough left over to handle Las Vegas at full blast. And I'm only
slightly exaggerating here. Between shields, structural integrity fields, and a few other things I got from the Trekkies, installed over a ship that's a
mile long, well....power is a useful thing to have. And as a lover of gadgets, I'm sure the need for more power will only grow.

[M Fnord]

I'm still working over the final discoveries list for Delta Pavonis, but I am sorely tempted to find a planet covered in nothing but trees just for you, man.
Mr. Fnord interdimensional man of mystery

FenWiki - Your One-Stop Shop for Fenspace Information

"I. Drink. Your. NERDRAGE!"

[robkelk]

And there's one whole layer devoted solely to blood orange trees, an entire grove of them. The Robert A. Heinlein Memorial Orchard.

Hear, hear.

Oh, yes - are blood orange trees widely available? (I don't remember either way.) If "yes," then Noah's going to have two in Stellvia's infirmary as soon as he hears about them, and will buy another half-dozen for the Patrol's infirmary at the White Tower as soon as it's built...
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[Feinan]

*nods* Blood orange trees were designed to spread quickly. Unused fruit shrink and harden into large nuts/seeds, and they grow and develop rather rapidly.
Getting some for Stellvia and the Patrol would be no problem.

[Shinkaze]

Hey Feinan, are those other treeships just smaller versions of Yggdrasil, or are some of them actually shaped like juraiin treeships.

[Feinan]

Edit: Got rid of the frame-busting section lines. Next time, Fenian, just use the horizontal rule tag. --Mal Shinkaze - at first I'd just intended them to be smaller versions of Yggdrasil. But thinking on it further, I think I'd do my best to grow the other ships to be more like the Juraian ships, to distinguish between the two classes.
Mal? If you were wondering what I had intended to do with the Star Trek holotech, here it is. Quite frankly they wasted its potential in the show - the closest they came to what it could be used for was really in The Nth Degree, and then they ignored the ramifications of that. Why have it in just one room? This is also why Yggdrasil will eventually have the Power Plant from Hell. Everybody - opinions of the stuff below, please? Too much? Too over the top or stuff that should be tweaked?

---

      I tapped a couple of keys on the keyboard in front of me, studied the results on the room's main screen, and nodded. "All right. I think that's got everything. Are we ready to do the first real system tests?"  Fate's chorus answered, "It looks that way, Kevin. All of the initial tests were positive, and the few minor glitches that we found have been fixed. What do you want to try first?"
            Leaning back in the nice high-backed chair that I'd set up as the command chair for the bridge, I glanced around the room. Right now, it was fairly plain – a rather bare room carved into the heart of my treeship. There were several chairs grouped around my main seat, a desk in front of me with a keyboard, and a large plasma screen TV hung on the front wall as a combination viewscreen and computer monitor. Though with luck, in a few minutes that would only be the backup system. "Control room setup." I bit my lip, and drew a deep breath. "Open configuration." The walls seemed to shimmer... and suddenly I was hanging in deep space. I swallowed nervously, then let out a long sigh. Not the easiest setup for someone who was still a bit acrophobic, even after dealing with freefall for the past few years. Fortunately, this wasn't freefall, and the configuration included a platform under my chair and the others, with a nice sturdy-looking railing around it. "All right... ." I settled back, trying to relax and convince myself I was NOT about to breathe vacuum regardless of what I was seeing. As my nerves eased, I started to look around in earnest, and began to smile. The view, once you got used to it, was AMAZING. "OK... this will take a while... .but I can't wait to see what it's like when we're headed somewhere." I entered a couple more commands on my keyboard, the results of which were now being displayed on a screen hanging in the air over the desk. "This is definitely a keeper. Shall we try one of the others now?"
            Fate chuckled. "Ask and ye shall receive. Do you have a preference?" I hmmed, and then nodded. "The Victorian cockpit setup." Space shimmered around me... and my bridge became a nice, cozy Victorian den. The walls were dark polished wood, as was the floor, and the front half of the room was now huge sheets of glass set in gleaming brass vines and buttresses. My keyboard and monitor had shifted as well, to a glowing panel set in a wood case, and a brass and wood contraption that looked like an old typewriter keyboard. Various readouts were displayed in brass and crystals that pulsated with light, and several back-lit stained-glass windows showed famous fictional starships, including the original Jupiter Two, the Tardis, and three different versions of the Enterprise. Off to one side, a fireplace had a cheerful fire crackling in it. Mounted over the mantel were the stuffed hindquarters of some sort of feline – maybe a mountain lion, from the size and color. A small plaque under it read ‘Please do not touch.' I laughed. "Let's stick with this for now. Though I still want to see the open configuration when we're under way."
            "All right, Kevin. We're clear for the other test, then? There are no ships within sensor range, so we are good to go."
            I nodded. "Might as well. We've got a few drones out so we can get an exterior view, right?" I leaned back in my seat, and hmmed at her affirmative. "Display current status, two-foot scale." About eye-level above the desk, a solid-seeming image of a two-foot-long Yggdrasil appeared. Solid indeed, as I reached out and turned it from side to side, regarding it closely. "Display works like we'd hoped." Fate's voice seemed smug, "Did you have doubts?" I laughed. "With you and the other girls working on it? Not really. So... .let's see what we can do to blend in with the Belt a bit more, shall we?" I grinned broadly. "Activate the chameleon circuit." Yggdrasil's image wavered for a second, and then in place of a silver-trunked tree there was now a rough-looking asteroid, one that would not have gathered a second glance in the Belt. "Cool! It does work, then... " I reached out and turned the rock around, viewing it from all angles. I didn't see any immediate discrepancies. Fate spoke softly, "Yes, it does appear to be functioning the way we wanted, though the power drain is fairly strong. We'll need to keep expanding the power rooms if we want to be able to do this for long periods as well as all of the other functions." I nodded. "We'd already planned on that... I want us to be able to hide if we ever need to, and this will be perfect."
            "True enough." Fate chuckled softly. "Do you want to try the other appearance that we discussed?" I grinned. "The one that will scare the Warsies white? Not to mention a lot of other folks? Sure, go ahead." The rock shimmered again, but instead of revealing the tree, there was now a two-foot-long Imperial Star Destroyer hanging in the air above my desk, shining a pure white. One glaring difference between the ones from the movies and this one however was the voluptuous, bat-winged woman painted on the prow of the ship, a woman wielding a whip apparently made of fire. Emblazoned under her was the ship's name: TISIPHONE. My grin grew a bit wider. "If I didn't want to keep the chameleon circuit as a trump card, I'd be SO tempted to show up at Phobos like this." A snicker sounded from the speakers – Clotho apparently thought it would be fun as well. Then I heard a clicking tongue. "Da, that would be mean." Then Lachesis chuckled as well. "Probably fun, I'll admit. But mean." I smiled. "True, true... all right. Turn the circuit off for now. No sense keeping it going full-time until we get more generators for the power rooms. But if you spot anybody coming, go ahead and turn the rock on. We might as well keep the ship a secret until we're ready to show her about." The SD shimmered and turned back into the Yggdrasil's true form.
            Leaning back again, I smiled. "Good work, everyone." There was a cough – Atropos, I thought, confirmed in a moment when she spoke. "There's... one other thing, Kevin. We've got the other thing we discussed worked out as well." At that, I drew a quick breath. "You did?" In answer, the air in the front of the room wavered... and four women were standing there.
            Clotho was dressed in the jeans and t-shirt that she usually wore in the lab's display, minus the lab coat she wore there. Pretty, college-aged and blond, with shoulder-length hair pulled back into a tail, she looked a little like Sarah Michelle Gellar. A long-shafted spindle was hanging from a loop at her belt, almost like a fencing foil, and two pouches also on her belt would probably be holding her Tarot cards and rune stones.
   
    Lachesis was wiping her hands nervously on a towel. It was clear that in her virtual youth, she must have been drop-dead gorgeous. Even now in her apparent forties she was stunning, despite the effects of age starting to show. She had bright green eyes and long, wavy copper-red hair starting to go grey, especially at the temples. A cloth tape measure was wrapped around the waist of her green dress, serving as a belt, and a large ring of keys hung from that.
    Atropos...was not pretty, at least not in the traditional sense. Lean and wiry, with a weathered and wrinkled face, she was probably in her sixties or so. But if not pretty, she was definitely striking. In her youth, she might have been called handsome. Iron-grey hair was cut short, and her expression tended to make one think she brooked no nonsense, though there were definite laugh lines among the wrinkles. She wore a grey jumpsuit, and had a tool belt with a hammer and wrench showing...as well as a pair of scissors prominently displayed.
   
    Fate looked between Clotho and Lachesis in age, maybe late twenties or so...but her blue eyes seemed far older. She was beautiful...maybe even as gorgeous as Lachesis had been in her youth. Wearing an old-fashioned blue dress with white lace, her hair had to be her most prominent feature: it was long and black, hanging almost to her knees, with a  brilliant white lock rising back from her forehead. She was leaning on a long, wooden staff, a staff that had a glowing blue crystal orb set in the top.
    As I looked back and forth between them, I swallowed hard around a lump in my throat. "Are....is it working as well as we hoped, when we talked about it?" They nodded, then Clotho smiled nervously and moved forward, bending down to give me a hug. "Hello, dad. Good to be able to do this finally." She always was the most impulsive of the four. That broke the dam, though, as the others came forward to hug me as well. "Hello, girls. Good on my end, too." I returned their hugs, swallowing around that lump again.

---

Clotho does indeed look a fair bit like Gellar. Lachesis - in my mind, she's a cross between Niobe Kaftan as Lachesis in Anthony's With A Tangled Skein and the older Gwen Gallowglass from Stasheff's Warlock books. Atropos is definitely based on the old mage-smith that became the sword Need in Lackey's books - appropriate, since Juanita Coulson was the voice for the sword in several filksongs about Need. And Fate....Fate is a cross between Polgara the Sorceress and Sailor Pluto. This is just how they assembled themselves in my head over the past year or so. *grin* As for Tisiphone - that seemed appropriate since the Furies were another one of those threefold goddesses...not to mention as an homage to Path of the Fury by David Weber, which gave me the idea of using holograms to do a shapeshifting ship. So....thoughts? Like anything in particular, hate anything? Let me know. Mal? Does this look OK with the holotech? I plan to make full use of it on the ship - to make the chambers appear to be open air and planetside, to assemble a bridge/command center wherever I might be on the ship if needed (why race to the bridge, when you can have one set up right where you are just by asking for it?). You wouldn't even need to assemble everybody in the same place if you use the holotech right - just have solid hologram images of crew members and their movements relayed back and forth between different ship locations. All the usefulness of having people in the same spot, none of the fuss of having to assemble them in the exact same spot.
*grin* And yes, a little sappy at the end, I know. I can't help it. I'm a sentimental bastard.

[M Fnord]

The only thing I'm a little wary about is the chameleon circuit stuff, but that might be because a treeship is just too cool to cover up like that. Using
it for the internals makes sense, it's fiendishly clever, kida wish I'd thought of it first.
Mr. Fnord interdimensional man of mystery

FenWiki - Your One-Stop Shop for Fenspace Information

"I. Drink. Your. NERDRAGE!"

[Feinan]

Oh, the chameleon circuit isn't for everyday use - it IS supposed to be an ace in the sleeve trick usually. But while the Yggdrasil will be well-armed and shielded, neither myself nor most of the crew are really combatant types. We can fight, and will
do so if needed - but for the most part we'd prefer to avoid it one way or another. Hence - the asteroid disguise as a way to hide...or the Star Destroyer
when we want to bluff. If we can put that image up before Boskonians see the tree, do you really think they'd want to deal with a warship a mile long? We
do have enough weaponry so that it's not all bluff...but making the bad guys run away with their tails between their legs just from what they see is much
better. For general use, though, you'll normally see the treeship. I happen to think that a treeship is just too cool to cover up as well. That's why
Yggdrasil appeared at Phobos the way that she did.

*grin* I'm glad you like what I had in mind for the internals. There's so much that can be done using this sort of holotech...and it's usually just
ignored. *snicker* And if you hadn't guessed from other bits, yes I have seen the Iron Man movie recently. I will admit that Stark's holographic
CAD/CAM setup gave me even more ideas for this.

[M Fnord]

tbh, I don't see anybody falling for the Star Destroyer ruse unless, well, somebody else is out there already producing Star Destroyers.
Mr. Fnord interdimensional man of mystery

FenWiki - Your One-Stop Shop for Fenspace Information

"I. Drink. Your. NERDRAGE!"

[robkelk]

tbh, I don't see anybody falling for the Star Destroyer ruse unless, well, somebody else is out there already producing Star Destroyers.

"General Solo..."

"What?" He turned and looked out the viewport. "Holy Lucas, somebody went and built a Star Destroyer. And it wasn't us..."
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[Bob Schroeck]

tbh, I don't see anybody falling for the Star Destroyer ruse unless, well, somebody else is out there already producing Star Destroyers.

No, I think Rob has the right of it. The wonder of Fenspace is you never know what you're going to find out there -- you can never, ever rule out the possibility of any particular ship/ship class showing up.

Feinan, that's a wonderful piece of work. I have a couple comments on it: first, you overused "glowing" a whole lot in the description of the Victorian bridge. Second, the "bare space" interface has been seen before -- the Babylon 5 sequel movie "Legend of the Rangers" used such an interface for its fire control -- the weapons officer slid into a zero-g room like this, and then "fought" the ship's battles with physical punches and kicks at virtual targets. (Bonus for fans: the actress playing the weapons officer was Myriam Sirois, the English voice of Akane Tendo... which made watching her punch out spaceships all the more fun. )
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

[Duane Peters]

Scary thought: Is a hologram of a ten-megawatt laser beam really a ten-megawatt laser beam? If so, you might just have the heaviest-armed ship in Fenspace
here...

[Black Aeronaut]

O_o;;

[Feinan]

Bob - yeah, I noticed the 'glowing' room after I went back and re-read it. I've fixed that, I think. As for the open space interface - I'd
heard someone talk about the fire control system, but I hadn't realized it was a full open space setup. I'll have to check out the movie now, to see
what they did with it.

As for the laser hologram...sorry, but I don't think so. While the Yggdrasil might eventually be able to pump that much energy out in a beam, I
don't think that we're far enough past the slapstick effect for it to work. Now...it might be able to fire a convincing-looking beam that misses...or
else send in a stealthed KKV and then 'fire' a beam just as it hits so that it looks as though the damage is from the beam weapon. That could give the
Star Destroyer illusion some teeth, if need be. Or just Yggy herself.

For this next bit...my daughters can't be the only crew for the worldtree - there's far too much to do, and they're based more in the
Lightning anyway. While I do plan on hiring older fenkinder and screening other fen for working on board, I tend to like AIs. This crew list developed
in my head over the last few days, though between them and one last crew member that I'll be introducing (and that Greenpeace should love to meet), I'm
a little worried about maybe using up too much cool. Check me out on this one, please guys? And hopefully it won't read too badly - I'm typing this up
at 5 am. But I wanted to get it out while the words were flowing.

---

I played with the simulation I had running on my main control terminal, idly watching space through the glass panels in the front of the room. Fred had been by
yesterday to help with the final installation and networking of the computers that we hoped would serve as the crew for the Yggdrasil. We tried to set
things up to work as well as possible - histories of Fenspace and my own logbooks, as well as stuff from the girls. Detailed information on what we needed for
crew, and as much relevant information as we could stuff into handwaved databanks on those subjects. While we'd set up some of the computers to handle
different functions (the computer reserved for handling the holotech had VERY high-end graphics and sound cards, for instance), with the networking we hoped
that whatever AIs developed could take over the jobs that they wanted and use the appropriate equipment. And if they didn't want to be crew...well, I'd
left a note that we'd help them get set up wherever they wanted. That was yesterday. Today....Fate had told me that AIs had indeed developed and were
going through all of the data, as well as everything she had in her Alexandria archive. She was trying to archive as much of human - and fen - culture as she
could. All of the books in my library had been entered, all of my movies and music...and I'm pretty sure she's been swiping vast amounts of stuff from
other sources as well. I didn't ask - I didn't really want to know. I touched the screen, and made the projected receptor dish that was being displayed
a little bigger. This simulation was actually part of the archive project. They'd said that signals sent off from Earth would degrade fairly rapidly so you
wouldn't be able to go out and see old shows...but they hadn't figured on handwaved computers and tech. Or on this. Displayed on the screen, with the
treeship as a huge spoke across the diameter of the dish, was a receptor dish over a mile wide. Blue dots represented a screen of drones equipped with holotech
that was helping to create the full dish. It wasn't that solid - hard to do with our current power - but it didn't have to be too solid. Just enough to
catch TV signals. We were going to see if we could go out and capture some of the lost episodes of Dr. Who. If that worked, we'd try other stuff as well.
And if it didn't...well, in a few years, we could get together a five-mile-wide receptor. Eventually, we WOULD figure out a way to pull it off.

Fate appeared next to me, leaning on her staff. "It's time, Kevin. They've reached full sentience, and picked avatars for themselves. You're
in for a bit of a shock, though. Some of the computers with multiple processor cores...well, with the honey we used on the memory portions, it apparently
altered them enough to generate several AIs. So we've got a number of pairings." I arched an eyebrow at that, and got to my feet. "All right.
Um...so, who wants to introduce themselves first? I'm the Jason, captain of the Fateful Lightning and the Yggdrasil here." A young
man appeared next to Fate, and smiled rather drily. When he spoke, it was with an English accent. "I suppose I can go first." He was...maybe late
twenties or so, dark-haired and clean-shaven with a sharp beak of a nose. He was also dressed in a rather old-fashioned looking suit. He looked really
familiar, but I couldn't place him immediately. "My...'twin' and I are the ones that want to handle ship's management and some of the
research. I'll probably be doing more of the research side, to be honest." The corner of his mouth quirked a little. "There's already one
famous computer listed in your archives that specialized in management and deductive reasoning. Since he could be termed my older brother, go ahead and call me
Sherlock." THAT placed the face for me - Basil Rathbone. I smiled slowly, and offered my hand. "Good to meet you. You mentioned your twin?"
Another figure appeared, this time a wizened little old Oriental man dressed in archaic clothing. And by old, I mean several years older than God...or even
George Burns. His WRINKLES had wrinkles. The old man bowed politely, and I returned it. "That would be me. Allow me to offer my greetings with young
Sherlock's. I'll be doing a little research, but handling more of the day-to-day ship's management." He also looked amused, and I had a
feeling I might have my hands full with this pair. "My surname is Li and my personal name is Kao, and there is a slight flaw in my character." I
nodded inwardly. Yep. Definitely going to have my hands full...just with Li. "Greetings and welcome, Master Li." Still - if there was anyone who
could keep all of the thousands of handwaved systems - and their quirks - working together, it would be Master Li.

Glancing around, I waited to see who would be next. Another little old man appeared, maybe in his sixties with sandyish hair. He was dressed in a jumpsuit
however, and was grinning outright. "I figured since these two were mentioning research, I should pop up. I've got your navigation and helm covered,
and I'll be picking up whatever these two don't want to work on. Or maybe I'll just watch over their shoulders and kibitz." I chuckled.
"Hello, Junior. Glad to have you aboard." Junior Badille from the book Saturnalia - despite his appearance, he was probably only late teens,
early twenties. He'd been born with a mutation that left his brain hardwired for efficiency rather than redundancy...and left him aging rapidly as well.
"Going for computer tech?" He grins. "Probably. I'll have to see what catches my eye."I nodded...and then blinked as another man
appeared. He was a dwarf - human, not Tolkien, but he was nearly squat enough that you could maybe miss the difference. He had black skin and a scruffy beard,
and was wearing a lion-skin cape, complete with the head as a hat. The bit of white cloth around his waist looked as though it could come from old Egyptian
movies...and he was ugly. We're talking bulldog ugly. He chuckled. "I've got your back on the ship's defense, kid." For such a short man,
his voice was deep and booming. I nodded slowly, and then gave him a very polite bow. "Thank you, Lord Bes. You alone, or...?" I was interrupted as a
woman appeared. Dusky-skinned, she was also wearing white cloth in an old Egyptian style. "Oh, no, young Lorrrrd Monkey. I will be handling the
morrre...offense-rrrelated functions." Her voice was husky, sexy...and her 'R's were purred - probably because she had a cat's head. A
lioness, not a housecat like Lady Bast. Ohhh shit. I swallowed nervously, and bowed VERY deeply. "Of course, Lady Sekhmet. I have absolutely no doubt
you'll handle it flawlessly." Whether she could handle it without going into a berserker rage...hopefully she didn't take completely after her
chosen avatar. Bes rolled his eyes as Sekhmet purred, clearly amused at my reaction. I wondered if Bes knew how to make a digital version of red beer.
Still....at least it wasn't Honor Harrington. I loved Honor, but if I'd had her on weapons, I'd have considered fleeing to a new ship. The woman
simply could NOT keep a ship intact for the life of her.

I hmmed, glancing around. "Did we have anyone that decided to take over the holotech functions?" At my question, a woman appeared to join the
increasing throng. Blond and early twenties, she was dressed in a regal gown...complete with a rather fancy-looking gold crown. "We will be handling that.
We're best suited for it." I arched an eyebrow at her, trying to place her...I'm pretty sure that was a royal We. "Hello...Your
Majesty?" She smiled, and nodded. "Queen Iris of Xanth. Magician of Illusion." I smiled. She was right...if she could match even a fraction of
the fictional Iris' abilities, she really was the best for the job. "Thank you for agreeing to help, Your Majesty." She gave a gracious nod, and
moved off to one side. "Um...let's see. We still need engineering, environmental and the gardens, medical, and the teaching specialist for any
fenkinder that join." An older gentleman popped up - fluffy grey-white hair, glasses, and a tweed jacket complete with patches on the sleeve. When he
spoke, he had a wonderful accent. And I recognized him immediately. "I believe that I can handle the education functions for you. It will be interesting
to develop a curriculum to include the history of the last few years." I smiled wide. "Thank you, Mr. Burke. I'll look forward to seeing what you
come up with."

As he fell silent, a young woman appeared, with long red-blond hair, wire-framed glasses, and Victorian-style clothing. She was carrying a wrench that was
taller than I was...and the golden trilobyte pin at her throat told me exactly who she was. I grinned. "AGATHA!" She grinned back at me.
"I thought there was an awful lot about this character in your files." I nodded. "Good to have you. The Foglios will die to meet you as well. If
you want to." She shrugged. "Maybe after a bit. I want to get a handle on this fascinating equipment that you've got around here. Not quite what
I'm used to, you understand." I nodded....though I privately wondered what she could do with handwavium and steam and clockwork. Could be fun to
watch. "You're my engineer, I take it?" A boy, maybe ten or so, popped in next to her, dressed in a t-shirt and shorts. He had blond hair that
was brushed up in a spiky mess, and looked more than a little bored. "Half of your engineering section, shit for brains. As you can see." I frowned,
looking at him. "Yes....?" He rolled his eyes. "Come on, fuckwad....this came from YOUR stuff." I stifled a groan, and pinched the bridge
of my nose, hoping to stifle the headaches I knew would be coming in the days to come. "With that vocabulary...hello, Barry. I'd say it's good to
see you, but I'm not quite sure, yet." He snorted, and shrugged. "Whatever." Agatha was regarding Barry as if wondering whether she should
be using her wrench or not. This should be...interesting. In the old Chinese sense. "OK....we've got the gardens and medical left. Did we get
everything covered?"

Fate nodded. "Actually, yes. Well-covered, with the doubled AIs." I cocked my head to one side, and considered that. "One thing, at least.
Gardens?" A short man appeared in the group...and by short, I mean he made ME look tall. He also looked like a rather plump Sean Astin. "That would
be me, master Jason, sir." I felt myself relaxing and grinning wide. "Hello, Samwise. I can't think of anyone I'd rather have handling them
more." He shuffled his feet, looking a little uncomfortable at the praise, but nodded. "I'll make sure they're the best, sir." I gave
him a thumbs-up, then glanced around. "OK. That leaves medical. Who do we have for a doctor?" Fate looked....mischievous. Oh dear. "Another set
of twins, father. So we have a pair of them." I groaned softly at my daughter. Unfortunately, she loved puns as much as I did. "A pair o' docs,
huh? We should be used to that here in Fenspace." She chuckled, "True enough."

The first of the doctors to appear...well, he looked as though he'd fit right in here in Fenspace. He was big, with dark blue fur and a rather
leonine-appearance...or maybe part bear?...to his face. However, he didn't look threatening at all - the white lab coat and the wire-rimmed glasses perched
rather primly on his nose took care of that. Other than those, the only other clothing he wore was a pair of shorts. "I looked over your requirements for
your doctor, old chap. Given my own...nature...I think I'll concentrate on the biomod studies you wanted to undertake. Dr. Henry McCoy...a pleasure to meet
you." I shook his hand. "And you." Then the other doctor appeared...and I froze for a moment, feeling my jaw drop a little. I hadn't
expected him. He was an older man, in his forties, with dark hair going slightly grey. He was dressed in black slacks and a bright blue shirt, and
when he spoke, it was with a thick Southern drawl. "And I'll be studying the medical and surgery side of it, son. Dr. Leonard H. McCoy, at your
service."