| Greetings and Salutations Dr Carroll! Sorry I haven't written for the last several days, but I've been involved in the Fleet exercises off Canopus, and naturally we were operating under total emissions control. Our side won three of the four exercises, and best of all Euryale suffered only minor (simulated) damage in the exercises while performing splendidly. Given Stheno and Medusa's performance, I'm sure that the Fleet is going to enthusiaticly adopt the concept of the Gorgon Class Heavy Assualt Carrier. The only problem I see is coming up with sufficient other names for the class. Although I do hear that they are lying down Hydra in the Mars Shipyards as we speak. I imagine they will scavenge the rest of the names from monsters in Greek mythology. On the topic of the Fleet exercises, I'm sure that you've already received the reports of the AI web synthesis. I have to admit that I find it incredibly addictive and have grown extremely close to Uri's core. In fact it's very difficult to disengage totally, and I'm definitely feeling "empty" after doing so. I can see why normals (sorry, that should be "mainstream" minds) crack under the pressure of attempting to maintain multiple (and often conflicting) viewpoints. They lack the arbitration mechanisms that we had to develop to cope with our natural existence. But the support of the web is indescribable. Now I can truly multi-process, rather than the pale imitation I was forced to attempt with my own "wetware." I don't think that there is any danger of us developing a God-complex though. Our own natural safeguards and sense of self-identity that make us ideal recipients for the cyber-web do seem to make this impossible. Unlike "normals" we just aren't wired that way. It's an empty fear. This leads me to something I want to try. The Stheno/David gestalt and I/we have discussed the possibility of extending our webs to touch each other. We believe that it should be possible to do so without causing any damage to either gestalt, provided the gestalts concerned have had sufficient time to develop in-vitro. Certain situations that occurred during the exercises (as noted in my report) would seem to indicate that this is true, and we'd like to follow this up. We've sent our request in through official channels, but we'd also like you to add your weight to it. If what I suspect is the case, I think we may be able to create a meta-gestalt. Imagine the possibilities for fleet command and control and coordinated activities. Besides, each gestalt is different, and different views bring different approaches to problems. I'll be refitting off Sigma Draconis for the next few days. The exercises gave me some nasty ideas on changes I want to make to my weapon load-out. [<grin I suppose that really should be Euryale's weapon load-out, at least where the civilians can hear.] I know you are busy, but do write sometime. Uri sends her love, as always. Fleet Commander Ian Borchardt
Commander, HMS Euryale PS: Uri just reminded me to say "Happy Birthday!" from both of us. | ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
reverancepavane) wrote2006-01-27 03:35 pm
incoming message from the big giant head ...
thanks for the birthday reminder! i had hoped by my 273rd we could all let those slip by ... not that uri would ever let that happen. or alice, for that matter. had a low key gathering - only a few hundred this year! *sigh*
the scylla's spine is already in pre-fabrication stages at the europa facility. commodore nobilis has indicated that my recommendations concerning the bioware integration and the microarchitecture of her navigation and command-control systems have already been implemented.
it might interest you to know that i/we have been messing about with web interactions of the kind you suggest. your previous communique gave me the idea, i hope you don't mind. the roche/cane:rachael/deckard symbiosis produced some interesting results. i wonder if you have had any contact with the fleet combat control vessel hms alice during the exercises? staff college has accepted the designation 'project borchardt' ...
on a more personal note, the refits of the fleet support vessel white rabbit and 'my' light cruiser looking glass have gone well.
miranda has come home for her off-duty rotation. uri is no doubt aware that cheng has responded well to her redesignation, and is also enjoying the downtime. the red queen will have a full compliment of staff for her next rotation, and will be sangstrom's new command. miranda will be posted to the hydra when she is commissioned. she'll be based at bradbury in the meantime and will be involved in the pre-commissioning phase as is traditional. she will miss cheng, but cannot pass up the opportunity to lead out the hydra.
alice has just reminded me to tell you that the hydra will be equipped with the new polycore system. if the overlap/symbiosis trials are as successful as i/we hope, the hydra may also be the first to be set up for that as well. the possibilities of a polycore symbiotic net within a single vessel have me itching to get back to the labs. [not that alice will let me out of the habitat until miranda has gone, of course :)]
alice, and dodgson, send their love. dodgson wanted to remind uri of her own impending birthday. we all appreciated the a-vid package from the horst platform, and have sent you a stim-pak from the symbiosis trial for your edification :)
yours,
doctor lewis carroll
director, fleet engineering
ceo, serious cybernetics