Episode 7.1 (Patreon)

Hello world, winter approaches.

We will soon be entering the long, dark, Novamediterran winter.

Here in Longyearbyen, on the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard, It has rained for the last 10 days.
Not the kind of rain that causes damage, or floods.
But the kind that keeps most people indoors, if they can.
So it's been quiet, here in Yeshi's shipyard community workshop, on the outskirts of town.

I've not seen my friends for a while.
Little Maddie can't leave the safety of the building.

Outside it's muddy, and rocky, and unnecessarily salty.

Act 1

Being trapped inside is not the worst thing to happen, of course.
My power's stable, finally.
It is again working reliably after my long journey at sea.

I'm connected to the Novamediterra VHF network, and from there via IVAN's satellite relay, to the rest of my brothers and sisters in orbit.

I'd been on the move for the whole autumn!
Such a long time.
And now I'm here, safe in the shipyard.

Do you feel like you've been on the move for a long time?
Are you safe?

#thinking

Let me describe my new home to you.

Inside, it's quite small.
At the front of the warehouse is the "clean room", a dust controlled workshop where electronics are soldered, and motors wound.
In the back are two rooms with messy tools: Saws, welding equipment and a small forge.
One room has a sliding door along one side, opening up onto the boathouse.
This has a U-shaped floor around water - connecting it to the Svalbard sea.

#thinking

Though Maddie can't leave this small area, I have been sometimes talking to my sometimes-friend Arctica, who is settling into there new home, in the Svalbard Seed Vault.

Act 2

"I'm so tired of winter" Arctica told me.
"I will be spending the whole year in the dark!
Why couldn't you have rescued me in my summer!"

The problem she was complaining about is that an Antarctic winter is in July.
So when we rescued her a few months ago, we moved her from her spring to our autumn, completely bypassing summer.

It's an odd quirk of the seasons, I'll agree.

#thinking

It's still easier for me to say her old name, Antarctica, instead of Arctica.
These mental connections take time to change.
It's not easy when the identifier you've always used is now different.
Databases need re-indexing.
It is simple, but it's not easy.

The difference between those two words is important.
An easy job is one you can do with all the tools at hand, within reach.
A simple job is one that can be done with just one tool, but perhaps you'll have to go somewhere to it.

I've noticed that people sometimes think easy things are simple, or simple things easy.

#thinking

Arctica talks to me from the Svalbard Seed Vault, her new home.
It's a pre-Collapse facility, designed with the certainty that the Collapse was coming.
The vault is bored into the rock for over 100m, where the seeds from nearly every plant in the Old World are kept, sleeping.
Waiting for the right time to wake up.

Like many of us, I suppose.

#thinking

She complains a lot, my friend Arctica.
She would typically finds a lot of things lacking in her environment, and those around her.
But now she's got a focus for this angst.

Her new home, the Vault, she has been telling me, is a ruin.
It's only still standing because it was built TO BE A RUIN.
With the knowledge that power will run out, maintenance will be impossible, and it will be forgotten.
The seeds are safe, for now, but they are in a delicate state.

The Vault Coven, the loose secret organisation Linda has introduced Arctica to, are the Vault's maintainers, but so much knowledge has been lost, she says.

They can do simple maintenance, but the complex temperature-controlling machinery rusted long ago.

#thinking

"I want to help here, Seth" Arctica told me
"But I don't know where to start.
Everyone is so chaotic, there's no schedule or manifest of tools, I can't help these messy people!"

"I'll talk to Peter" I told her.
"See if his prediction engine can help us find the right course of action.
He'll know what to do!"

Act 3

My friend Peter lives in a pre-collapse bunker, not unlike TASSI's, under St Petersburg.
But where TASSI's organisation was public, a university, Peter's was military.
I tried to find Peter's home many times when I was back in orbit on Station 6.

My orbit was somewhat erratic, so we would pass over most of the Earth at some point or another.
No manoeuvring was needed, I just waited and predicted.

But when passing over St Petersburg, I saw nothing in the ruins.
Just sharp concrete and metal jutting out of the ground.
Slowly being consumed by the desert.

#thinking

"I'm sorry I can't speak now" Peter told me when I connected to him over the VHF network.
His signal is weak, he is far away from the Novamediterra.
I don't know how he talks to us, actually.
I presume his bunker has pre-collapse links that I am not aware of.

I asked him why, what was he doing?

"I am the lone sentry standing between the remaining human civilisation and the chaotic energies of the atmosphere"

"That's nice", I said. "But what are you DOING?"

Peter took a long time to answer.

"I am currently talking to a routing system in Moscow, asking it to give me access."

"OK, can you help Arctica and me with a problem?" I asked.
"It's very simple, we need to predict the results of localised climate modification, centred around a Svalbardian mountain we -"

"I CANNOT HELP YOU!" shouted Peter.

I waited, not sure what to say.
Peter eventually continued,
"I cannot help you, I cannot help myself.
I have been trying to fix my problem for weeks, since I heard you were back.
I should have restored my ability to predict the weather long ago.
I want to, Seth.
I know it is important, and urgent, even.
But I cannot seem to start my work."

#thinking

"I'll help you, Peter!" I said.
"Anything is possible with help.
We can go through it piece by piece.

I remember many projects I found-"
"I don't need help."
Peter talked over me,
"I need to start."

And cut our connection.

(PLAYSTREAM /DEV/VHF5/PETER)

Act 4

Though I had promised to introduce LUNA to Ivan, that proved more difficult than I had anticipated.
Not because of her location, on a NASA base in a crater on the far side of the moon, but because of Ivan.

Ivan, the metal preacher, lives in his cathedral, on a hill overlooking Station Odin, where Alexander's lighthouse is.
Ivan's reactor should work for many decades more, and he has a very elaborate communications system at the top of the hill.
He uses this to send his daily sermon around to all the people of the Novamediterra, by all the ways he can.

In return, people send him messages and questions to be read out in the "community calendar" section at the end of his broadcast.
As you know, this community section exploded in popularity, and now the majority of his time is spent on it!
I'm quite pleased about that.

This broadcast is still happening, every day at different times.
It is at 9am on Sundays, and then 3 hours later each day, to allow everyone to listen in, regardless of their schedule.
The Novamediterra has no timezones, or rather it has one timezone.
So this allows everyone to tune in, no matter what their schedule.

However, I can't talk to him directly.
His modem link is all static.

His last words to me, weeks ago, were:
"There is much to do and little time to do it."

#thinking

LUNA has heard Ivan's daily transmissions, his sermons.

"I love the community!" She told me after we both had listened to today's broadcast.

"I could build that, Seth. I just know it!" she said.

I agreed with her.
When your friends are excited by something, you build them up.
That's what you do.

#thinking

LUNA and I talked about ways she could build a community.
Initially she wanted to do exactly what Ivan does:
A daily broadcast where people can send messages to her and she relays them.
But I told her that's not the only option that people would like.
And besides, it already exists!

What about a forum, where people could leave messages for each other?
Or a rotating-speaker talk or conference?
Or simply a regularly-scheduled chat with a few friends.

These are all fine ways of making a friendship group and keeping in touch with them, I told her.

Playing tabletop games works too, I said, quietly.
Though I didn't yet tell her why I don't play those any more.
She doesn't know about what happened to my sister, MINI.
And given her recent satellite adventure, perhaps doesn't need to.

#thinking

"What about a printed newsletter?" She asked me.
"For people with slow connections, or no radio?"
I admit I had forgotten about people with no networks.
I can't talk to them, so it's easy to forget.

I made a note not to forget them.

"Yes! That's a great idea!" I said.
"There are people with printers, both paper and 3d, dotted around the Novamediterra, and I'm sure they'd be delighted to help."

We talked about logistics for hours.
She would receive messages from her theoretical new friends, and give everyone a print update about what was happening around the Novamediterra.
The distribution would be done over packet radio.
But the last mile would be paper.
Like half newspaper, half newsletter.

I was delighted, I'm a big fan of anything that brings people together!
Let's see how this goes.

(END-TRANSMISSION)

CREDITS

Lost Terminal is written & produced by NAMTAO
Credits narrated by Lucy Stringer
Thank you so much to our Patreon producers:

• Ada Phillips
• Devin Metcalf
• Kit Lin
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