<div class="floatleft">(https://elliquiy.com/elluiki/images/7/7a/AlineMineiro01.jpg)</div><strong>Name:</strong>Petra Sabio (https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=339078.msg16082563#msg16082563)<br/><strong>Date/Time:</strong>The 11th of March, 9am (GMT)<br/><strong>Location:</strong>Aboard a shuttle about to dock with the Odyssey<br/><strong>Content:</strong>First approach to the ship<br/><strong>Tagging:</strong>Tyrone Pryk, and anyone else aboard the shuttle<br/><hr/><div style="text-align: justify;"><br/>"I enjoyed the immense privilege of being part of the team working on the Brasilia Arcology."  Petra sounded diffidently happy, rather than boastful, as she provided an oblique answer regarding her comfort with mind-to-mind contact.  "By far the easiest and most accurate means of communication between the array of humans involved and our Qin collaborators was telepathic networking.  I studied the Qin language, too, not least for those moments when one network wanted to quickly convey something to others nearby... but the telepathy provided the sort of..."<br/><br/>Her voice trailed off, as she sought the right word.<br/><br/>"The sort of <em>window</em> on another world that would otherwise have been impossible.  Even when we stumbled across those rare elements that simply made no sense to one side or the other, the <em>intent</em> was always clear.  And even with aliens, so too was almost every bit of communication crystal-clear.  I confess that my time on the project left me with lingering hopes of managing to develop Networking capabilities, myself - though I know that anything I <em>were</em> able to achieve in that line would be rather fragile and brief when compared to a genuine telepath, I would still love to have the capacity, myself!"<br/><br/>"But, ahh, yes.  My capabilities largely lie in other fields.  One key point of overlap that the Norça swiftly appreciated was my potential as a diplomatic aide or courier.  Even without other training, there is a lot to be said for a messenger who can convert a specific item into noetic energy and store it undetectably inside their own signature.  I carry my personal biocomp that way, for convenience and security - but I can easily enough bear one carrying diplomatic correspondence or the latest technical specifications from a research laboratory.  Or I can stand at the shoulder of an ambassador, providing an old academic's advice... while being able to manifest a VARG or have weaponry appear in my hands the moment an emergency arises."<br/><br/>"I am speculating, and am very much aware that I might well be wrong... but I suspect that the two of us are intended to work together should any 'contact' situations arise.  So far as we know, none of the species out there can detect any details of my 'security' capabilities, even if they have a means of identifying us as psions... and for as long as any situation remains calm I can provide access to an old book-worm's trove of obscure facts and academic theorising, along with a greater comfort with telepathy than most outside the Ministry.  While you, it seems, have been trained to put up with long-winded droning from colleagues!"<br/><br/>"And should things take a turn for the worse, indications thus far are that I can at least expect to significantly <em>slow down</em> anything with hostile intent.  After all, to the best of our knowledge, <em>nobody</em> expects a surprise bioVARG."<br/><br/>It was a weak joke, and probably a less-than-clear reference to the antique humour of Monty Python's Spanish much-copied Inquisition sketch, but her lips curled into a wry smile nonetheless.  She was at least <em>trying</em> to lighten the tone, and avoid sounding like someone giving a lecture.<br/><br/>"But in all seriousness: you <em>do</em> have my sympathy regarding people trying to 'improve' you.  I'm not native Sudamerican - not a drop of blood from the continent in my family tree, so far as I know, and I first set foot there as an adult.  Some Norça saw those as crippling failings, requiring remedial education at every opportunity.  And then... well.  My Prometheus experience seems to have been unconventional.  My Aptitude is... uneven.  Assimilation and the related arts come exceptionally easily; the 'signature' Norça gifts one sees on the holovids do not.  At all.  There are neophytes still wet from the Chamber who have more actual shapeshifting ability than me.  Which has led to a decade and a half of people coming up with bright ideas for 'fixing' me.  Part of what the Odyssey offers is a chance to be part of a community where one's competence, rather than those areas others think are lacking, is what is regarded as important.  No one here can sensibly expect life to consistently follow the rules or norms of any single Order or organisation: we need to learn about and accept working with each other, rather than demanding that our own assumptions always hold sway...."<br/><br/>"...or so I <em>assume</em>, in my own arrogance."<br/></div>