[Fiction] An Unwelcome Visitor

[Matrix Dragon]

So, I actually agree with Cobalt slightly. Which is amusing as I'm the one that started the story while thinking 'Jesus, they let this fucking loon wander the solar system?' That said, I think the in-universe reactions should be kept. They work well in an 'immediately after the fact' sort of way. But when I go back to edit the earlier installments, I plan on making it clearer that the Professor isn't in what passes for his right mind. He's very tired, very not thinking clearly, and being presented with a shiny thing that he never tracked down back in the day (A 'Julianne' Friez). And his assistants have, for various reasons, failed to stop this situation from happening.

The big thing for me is the aftermath. I mean, yes, we could just decide he's unfixable crazy and toss him out an airlock. Chris, who dealt with the consequences of Boskonian mads back in the day, and has seen what the Professors own experiments have caused, would have less trouble with that than he'd like to admit. But this is Fenspace. The tone of the setting leans more towards optimistic with occasional doses of 'oh damn'. We have our version of Science Related Memetic Disorder, how about we have the setting start to help people with it?

I'm not saying 'cure' or 'make them be normal'. But keeping them from dismantling an active fusion reactor without noticing what they're doing is good for everyone around.