It Takes Time <To Be Properly Taken Apart> - Chapter 45
Chapter 45
Chapter Length: 4,700~ wordsThe Role Of Suffering: Part I
Eventually, after enough time had passed, Raqi decided that it was time to extricate herself from Punica. A few small wiggles and attempts to pull away indicated her desire to leave her plant's embrace, and the vines that had wrapped around her promptly uncoiled themselves and allowed her to go free; though it took a moment longer for them to do so than usual. As Raqi climbed down the Punica-mound to make her way back onto the cargo bay floor, the mess of vines on the ground quickly began to reform into the familiar humanoid shape of her affini. It took only a few seconds for Punica to go from a carpet of flowers to fully reassembled, and once she had done so, she turned to face Wessmiyr. "I apologise for my overzealousness in attempting to protect my charge," Punica spoke. For all that Raqi's embrace had smoothed away the guilt she had been feeling, there was still a clear note of /Irritation/ directed at Wessmiyr as she spoke. "I misinterpreted your actions as indicative of a threat and acted before stopping to clarify." Her tone made it very clear that she was in no way actually sorry for doing this, and to erase any possibly doubt, she finished by adding: "I am sure you can understand why I thought it prudent to act decisively under the circumstances." /frustrated-annoyed-blaming/ "Of course," Wessmiyr replied. Eir voice had once again grown clear and almost toneless, and belied no hint of any frustration at the affini who had just very nearly critically injured eir. "It is only natural that an affini should act decisively to protect their floret. I am certain that none among your species would find issue with you for the actions you took; nor do I myself." At the word 'floret', Punica's leaves suddenly stood up on end, and her vines froze. At the same time, Raqi's eyes shot open and her full attention fixed on Wessmiyr. "H-hey! I am not her floret!" The phytoweapon tilted eir head. "Are you not?" "I-" Punica's voice caught in her throat momentarily; which shouldn't even have been possible with her biology but happened somehow nevertheless. "I understand the confusion; but despite appearances, she is indeed not my floret. Raqi is simply my..." At this, her voice trailed off, and she turned to look back down at her xeno. Her vocabulary failed her as she tried unsuccessfully to find a word in any language she knew that adequately described their present relationship; her mind invariably turning back to 'floret' at the end of each attempt. She was saved from what was becoming an uncomfortably long pause by Raqi speaking. "We're just friends," the xenosophont quipped indignantly, gaze still blessedly fixed upon Wessmiyr. "I am not interested in becoming a floret. I like my autonomy very much, thank you." Wessmiyr returned eir head to its original orientation. "I see. Please forgive my assumption, then, in that case." At this, Raqi's brows furrowed even further. "You've been inside of my head. Shouldn't you already know that I've got no interest in that kind of thing?" The phytoweapon's eyes abruptly became speckled with small cyan dots. "On the contrary. What brief time I spent interrogating your consciousness revealed a great deal of interest in the concept of florethood." Punica was confused. She opened her mouth to ask what Wessmiyr was talking about, but was interrupted when Raqi suddenly blurted out: "Shut the fuck up! That is- That is not the same thing! That was a literal dream and NOT something I would ever actually want in real life!" The sapient weapon seemed completely unperturbed. "You did not seem to employ very much of a distinction when we spoke." "SHUT," Raqi screeched. For all that her voice remained eminently affronted, her cheeks were rapidly turning a dark crimson, and her expression was one of deep embarrassment rather than anger. "Shut up. Shut up. I am not having this conversation right now. Not-" She cast a trepidatious glance at Punica. "Not in front of her." "Very well. I will speak of it no further," came Wessmiyr's response. Punica, meanwhile, had graduated from confused to utterly baffled, and felt like she had no idea at all what was going on between the two. "Good." Raqi's scowl faded, and in its place, an expression of what seemed to be minor discomfort appeared. "Yeah, on that note, I'm actually starting to feel really tired all of a sudden. Uh, there's a lot to talk about, but like... I think I maybe just wanna go nap first." "That is quite understandable. You have engaged in social activity far outside of your normal operating parameters today, and it follows that you would therefore need time to recharge," Wessmiyr stated matter-of-factly. "I think this has less to do with socialising and more to do with you knocking me out," Raqi deadpanned, "...but that's probably also true." She looked up at Punica. "I, uh- I'm feeling kind of lazy. Can you, um, carry me back to my bedroom, please?"
███████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████/approval/
At this, Punica finally found herself back in a situation which she understood how to navigate. "Of course I can, Raqi. Wessmiyr is correct: If you are tired, you ought to rest." Mid-sentence, vines had extended from Punica's form and wrapped themselves around Raqi, gripping the girl securely and then pulling her over to the affini's shoulder; where additional appendages then formed themselves into the configuration that Punica had ascertained was most comfortable for the xeno. She was rewarded with the sensation of Raqi immediately going limp into her vines, and one of her optical receptors caught sight of the girl's eyelids fluttering in a way that made her core lurch.
For just a moment, Punica forgot all about the circumstances that had lead them here, as she was filled with an overwhelming feeling of affection for her not-pet. Everbloom, she is just too precious to actually exist. She soon snapped herself out of it. "Come, then. Let us get you back to your room."
"I will accompany you," Wessmiyr chimed in, prompting both others to turn to look at eir. "With the two of you now aware of my presence upon the ship, I have no further reason to continue restricting myself to only this room.
Punica considered telling Wessmiyr not to follow them, but decided against it out of concern that doing so might upset the still-extremely-dangerous phytoweapon. "Very well."
The trip back through the overgrown corridor was far quicker than their initial traversal of it had been. Punica no longer needed to move cautiously on account of knowing exactly who the foliage belonged to, and so was free to simply whip or tear away any parts of it that got in her way. She made sure not to disturb Raqi with her motions, and she was pleased to notice the way her xenosophont's heartrate had slowed after just a minute of being cradled in her arms. Fluttering eyelids had soon become fully closed, and by the time Punica had arrived at Raqi's bed to return her to it, the little xeno had fallen fast asleep. "She synchronises very easily with your biorhythm," Wessmiyr noted; speaking quietly so as not to disturb Raqi. Punica signed with her vines in agreement; presuming the phytoweapon would likely be able to read Milky Way-standard affini vine language. "<She has always been very prone to falling asleep when overexerted. She has told me it is typical of her neurotype, but part of me suspects there may be some underlying deficiency which she is not aware of.>" "Chronic fatigue conditions are highly common among neurodivergent landamaeris, particularly kuruki such as captain Marr," Wessmiyr replied. "Medical science within the Landamar Mobile Fleet appears to be sorely lacking in regards to minority-centric health conditions such as these, and so I was unable to find any clear indication of what may cause this link during my research." Punica finished tucking Raqi away, then turned to frown at Wessmiyr. "<How do you know about that subject?>" Raqi did not strike her as particularly well educated about medical science, and something about the way the phytodroid spoke made it sound as if she had more than a cursory understanding of the matter. "My connection with the ship through the Chimera module grants me access to the Rending Talon's databanks. In the time since I arrived upon this vessel, I have worked through the entirety of all stored information pertaining to landamaeri society; in order to develop a better understanding of the environment from which captain Marr hails." Punica hesitated. Depending on both the amount of information stored on the Talon, as well as how long Wessmiyr had been here, that could have been a much more or less impressive feat. Affini were capable of both reading and comprehending new information very quickly: she had heard of some affini that had devoured historical Terran texts on communism that were infamous for their unapproachability in a single night. But there was a difference between reading a book and clearing out an entire library, and Punica felt this leaned more towards the latter. That is the sort of thing that I would expect a digitised consciousness to be capable of. Wyr did react incredibly quickly to my movements during our confrontation: If wyr can operate at that speed for extended periods of time, then it is possible wyr could have parsed through an enormous quantity of information. Rather than responding directly, Punica gestured her want to move out of the room. Wessmiyr nodded, and after one last look to confirm that Raqi was still asleep, Punica proceeded outside and into the hallway. She did not stop there; making her way through a second door and into the garden. Some part of her felt it would be strange to hold a conversation in a corridor; either that or she was simply used to having the majority of her social interactions in that portion of the ship. Either way, Wessmiyr followed after her, and the two were soon secluded in the room where Punica had rebloomed.
Once the door closed behind Wessmiyr, Punica turned and faced eir once again. Her voice was calm as she spoke, but there was a hardness in it that she made no effort to hide. "You said to me when we first met that you would be willing to provide me with an explanation as to your actions. I would like to hear that explanation now." Wessmiyr nodded immediately. "I will do my best to answer any question which you pose to me. Where shall we begin?" Something about the phytoweapon's forthcomingness irritated Punica, but she tried to keep it in check. "Firstly, I want to know what you are. You described yourself as an 'Epheros-class sapient weapon'; I have never heard of such a thing. Why would anyone within the Compact create a sapient weapon, of all things?" This time, Wessmiyr did pause before answering. "I stated that I would do my best to answer any questions you posed. In this case, there is very little that I can tell you: I know that that is my designation - that I am an Epheros-class sapient weapon, possessed of capabilities necessary for both ship-to-ship and personal combat - but I do not know why I am that." Punica halted. "You mean- you do not know why you were created?" Wyr nodded. "That is correct." "That does not make sense. Why would your creator not share with you their intentions for creating you?" "I do not know." Wessmiyr's voice was devoid of any hint of subterfuge or deception. "I am simply not privy to my creator's motivations for producing me." There were a variety of things that Punica wanted to ask. She wanted to inquire how this was even possible; to ask if Wessmiyr had never asked, or something else ridiculous like that- but she knew that doing so would not yield any further information. The phytoweapon was clearly not lying, but that begged the question of how in the Everbloom's name could wyr possibly not know something like that? "In that case, what are you doing upon this vessel? Why are you not with your creator?" There was no pause this time. "I was separated from my creator roughly eighty-five standard cycles prior to my encounter with captain Marr. I willingly departed from her presence after we experienced a disagreement regarding our respective views upon domestication philosophy." This response took Punica completely by surprise. "You had an argument with your creator over philosophy, and then left because of it?" She fixed Wessmiyr with a nonplussed look. "And your creator allowed this?" "Not at all. My creator made various attempts to keep me contained within the vessel upon which I was interred." Wessmiyr clasped eir hands over eir front in the same gesture that wyr had shown when first meeting Punica. "They were simply insufficient." "I see. And how exactly did you escape a spacecraft? I presume that you were docked at port, or upon a planet-" Wessmiyr raised a hand to interrupt. "No. I escaped by jettisoning myself from the vessel at the exact moment at which it was about to exit a hyperspace jump; timing my departure such that I would be deposited at a random portion of space a great distance away from the vessel's intended exit point." "Wh-" Punica's eyes flashed a bright yellow. "You spaced yourself out of the ship while it was in hyperspace?! How are you alive?!" "I presume by your tone of voice that you mean to express shock at my survival, rather than that you are inquiring as to the actual specifics through which I survived. I will therefore refrain from going into detail, and instead provide the following summary: With a substantial amount of planning, and, in hindsight, an equal amount of luck. There were a number of variables that I failed to account for at the time, and my survival can therefore be credited primarily to extensive good fortune." "By the Everbloom..." Punica pressed one hand against the side of her face. "You said that this took place eighty-odd cycles before you met Raqi. Does that mean you were adrift in space for the entirety of that time?" Wessmiyr nodded. "That is correct. I entered a state of partial hibernation in order to preserve the integrity of my consciousness; only awakening whenever an object of sufficiently large mass to suggest a vessel came within proximity of me. In truth, I expected to be stranded for much longer than I actually was. That captain Marr came upon me was equally as fortuitous as my initial survival: I thought it would be possibly as long as a bloom before I was discovered in such an isolated portion of space." The room fell silent as Punica tried to process what Wessmiyr had just told her. If the phytoweapon was telling the truth, then eir 'escape' was one of the most serious accidents to happen on an affini vessel in the Milky Way. Eir creator can only be an affini, so for them to make an oversight that very nearly lead to the death of a sophont is almost unthinkable. With every piece of information that Wessmiyr shared, the relationship between eir and eir creator grew even stranger. All of this over a disagreement on domestication philosophy? Punica turned her attention back to Wessmiyr and asked: "What were the specifics of your disagreement with your creator?" Wessmiyr's posture shifted once again. Eir hands dropped to eir sides, and Punica thought that the yellow hue in her eyes turned just a shade more orange. "Before I can answer that, I require information from you: Which domestication philosophy do you adhere to?" Punica's mind went blank. "I beg your pardon?" "I apologise if my question was unclear. I am attempting to inquire as to whether you consider yourself an advocate of Triangulum or cultivationist domestication theory. In the event that your answer differs between individual and societal domestication, I am primarily referring to the latter in this case." "I-" It took Punica a moment to even process what Wessmiyr was saying. She recognised the core worlds dialect word for Triangulum - she did not speak core worlds affini, but there wasn't an affini alive that couldn't recognise that word at least - but the way that cultivationist was being used here was not something she had ever heard before. "I was not aware that there were established branches of domestication theory outside of Triangulum. Not outside of hypotheticals, at least." "That is disappointing; but unsurprising. It does not surprise me that the existence of cultivationist theory is not taught in the standard affini curriculum." "I- I suppose it may have been taught in the electives upon species-scale social management? But I did not take those, so I am uncertain." All of a sudden, Punica felt decidedly unsure of herself. Hearing the way Wessmiyr was speaking about something she had never even heard of as if it were common knowledge made her feel like she were missing some critical piece of information, and in spite of any lack of indication that Wessmiyr was viewing her in such a way, she found herself feeling as if she had somehow failed by not knowing about this. "In that case, I will need to inform you of the basic principles of cultivationism and how they differ from standard domestication theory before we can continue." The way that Wessmiyr phrased it caused Punica to suddenly feel as if she were back in the classroom, about to attend yet another lecture. "In order to facilitate clear communication, I will switch to the Terran localisations of the two terms; as I expect they would be easier to remember than their affini equivalents. The term 'hedonistic' is commonly used as an indirect translation for Triangulum theory, on account of its focus on direct chemical pleasure; whereas the term 'existential' is used to refer to cultivationist theory, due to its more wide-ranging definition of personal satisfaction, and the similarity this holds to certain old Terran schools of philosophy." Punica nodded. Just based off of the names alone, she now had a picture of what the major differences between these two schools were likely to be, but she waited for Wessmiyr to elaborate nonetheless. "Hedonistic domestication theory is the primary, and only 'main' accepted branch of domestication theory within the Affini Compact," Wessmiyr continued. "It is employed within all galaxies in which the Compact is present, and is commonly framed as monolithic. While sub-schools are acknowledged to exist within it, these do not deviate from the central tenet of hedonistic theory, and rather represent alternate methods to best achieve it. Said central tenet is, as you have almost certainly guessed, the maximisation of happiness for all xenosophonts under the affini's care." Punica nodded again. "I had indeed guessed as much." "I am glad that you are following along thus far. It is important to note that happiness as referred to in hedonistic theory refers specifically to the optimisation of reward systems within xenosophonts: A 'happy xenosophont' is considered to be one that experiences a great amount of reward stimuli on a frequent basis, ideally varied between the full length of rewards provided by their biology or circuitry- but the primary goal of hedonist theory can be summed up as maximising biochemical happiness." Punica suddenly remembered the conversation she had had with Raqi on the day they first met about the usage of class-O xenodrugs on xenosophonts. She wondered, all of a sudden, if there might be an entirely different reason why the affini rarely resorted to class-O's than the one she had given Raqi at that time. If I were to place her on class-O xenodrugs, I would not be able to enjoy her company any more. It occurred to her that this may well be the true reason why the affini were so reluctant to employ identity-obliterating xenodrugs. I could not imagine being without her in that way, no matter how filled with bliss it would make her. For a moment, the image of an empty-eyed, blissed out Raqi filled her mind- and it made her core shiver with fear. Never. Never ever. She was pulled back to reality by the sound of Wessmiyr's voice. "The alternative model proposed by existential domestication theory deprioritises chemical happiness, and instead promotes psychological and philosophical satisfaction; commonly shortened to 'meaning' or 'purpose.' Adherents of existentialist theory do not seek to simply drug their florets into bliss, but instead desire to help them achieve personal fulfillment. The path that this takes commonly varies depending on the xenosophont's individual goals, as well as their personal beliefs about what constitutes a rich and meaningful life. Followers of existentialist domestication theory are frequently criticised for their choice to allow their florets to experience genuine suffering; which some believe goes against the mission statement of the Affini as a whole." "That is..." Punica shook her head. "I do not believe that allowing xenosophonts- no, not allowing; that directly interfering to prevent all suffering outright is necessarily a mandated part of our duty as caretakers." She thought again of Raqi, and how if this were mandated, she would have had no choice but to drug the girl out of her misery. "I am of a similar opinion," Wessmiyr replied, and for the first time, Punica thought wyr sounded pleased. "It is my personal belief that the ultimate outcome of hedonistic domestication theory is a universe filled with xenosophonts that will eventually be unable to be considered truly sapient; owing to gradual evolutionary changes caused by life in a domesticated society that will unavoidably incline them towards a greater capacity to experience pleasurable sensations, at the likely cost of higher-order thought." This, though, Punica thought was going too far. "I do not believe that is a likely outcome of the Compact's current trajectory. Measures are already in place to reduce genetic drift towards non-sapience in domesticated species; if those failed, I am certain we would intervene directly to stop such a thing from occurring; most likely via targeted genetic editing to nudge a species back towards its original neural composition at the time of domestication." "Perhaps, yes," Wessmiyr conceded. "But that is only one of the contributing factors to this effect. The other issue that I consider to be far more pressing is the impact of domestication upon xenosophont cultures and ways of life. While it is inarguable that the overwhelmingly vast majority of species benefit from access to Affini technology, the effects of transition from a scarcity to a post-scarcity culture can be described as highly traumatic for existing cultures." Wyr began to gesture illustratively. "Take, for example, the Terran Accord. Domestication has seen the population of the Accord freed from war, disease, and starvation. The average lifespan of humans and Rinans across the Accord is predicted to more than double in the next century, and it is inarguable that the vast majority of them will be able to live happier and more fulfilled lives. However, this comes at the cost of the loss of enormous parts of their culture. Violence, for example, has historically been ever-present within all human civilisations on both an institutional and personal level, and factored as an inseparable part of life for humanity for millions of years. As of the Compact's arrival, this no longer exists. Terrans born after domestication are likely to live and die without ever having their bodily autonomy forcibly infringed upon by another of their race." Punica raised a hand in confusion. "How is that anything other than a positive? Violence is an abhorrent, detestable phenomenon that indeed should not exist." "On an individual level, you are correct that violence can have devastating consequences on singular sophonts. I do not dispute this. However, no matter how undesirable it is considered to be, the impact of its existence on a societal level cannot be denied. Enormous portions of Terran social behaviour revolve around relationship management; the evolutionary purpose of which is to facilitate cooperation and avoid violence. Many of these behaviours exist solely for the latter purpose, and they will continue to practise them on instinct, despite them no longer serving a purpose." Wessmiyr's tone grew questioning. "Do you believe that ten thousand years from now, affini custodians will intervene to reintroduce the concept of assessing other humans for the physical threat they may or may not pose to one's self, and placating them to avoid such outcomes?" "No, of course not," Punica replied, almost without thinking. "Because it is like you are saying: those behaviours will have become pointless by then. Terrans would be unquestionably better off without the anxiety caused by worrying that others of their species might try to harm them if pushed to do so. What possible benefit could there be to trying to preserve such a thing?" Wessmiyr's tail swayed slowly from side to side as wyr spoke. "Because without it, humans will not be able to be said to be the same species that they are presently. A change as substantial as the wholesale removal of violence as a concept cannot help but have repercussions at a race-wide level. With such an integral part of their existence removed, Terrans will become something fundamentally different from what they are in the present." The phytoweapon's voice hardened. "This outcome is unavoidable." Punica wanted to reply. The first thing that came to her mind was to tell Wessmiyr that this was irrelevant; to ask what it even mattered that Terrans would change. But as the words filtered around in her mind, she found herself unable to speak. The proposal reminded her of what she had said to Raqi about the difference between intentional and unintentional change. Species changed over time, and it was just as inarguable that evolution would eventually have changed Terrans; but that would have been a gradual, millions-of-years long process. What Wessmiyr was suggesting would be able to be observed in the lifespans of affini before their tenth bloom. She didn't know what, but something about that felt fundamentally wrong to her somehow. "In my view, such an outcome would be tantamount to an indirect genocide of the Terran race; and this can be extended to all other species which have experienced similarly drastic changes as a result of domestication," Wessmiyr continued. "This is one of, though not the primary disagreement which caused me to depart from my creator's side." Punica blinked, snapping once again back to reality. "What could the two of you have disagreed about that was more important than this?" "Simply put, the role of suffering in sophont existence," the phytoweapon replied plainly. "While I and my creator both agreed that the issue of post-domestication biological drift must be addressed, we disagreed on in what ways it ought to be addressed. My creator believed that the ideal solution came in a more gradual transition from scarcity to domestication; one which would preserve low-level conflicts, and only gradually phase them out over the course of many millennia." There was an irritation in Wessmiyr's voice that made it clear that this matter was personal for eir. "I found this solution unsatisfying. This approach would only delay the onset of cultural destruction; not stop it altogether. Instead, I wish for a solution which maintains fundamental aspects of xenosophont experience indefinitely." "Wait just a moment." Punica's vines gradually fell to a standstill. "Are you saying that you wish to preserve the existence of violence within domesticated societies?" Wessmiyr locked eyes with Punica. "Yes, I am."
Book 2
withering away :: The Prism System :: Intoxicants :: Plurality :: please believe me :: Landamaeri Domestication Guide :: Hypnotic Centres :: The Domestication Initiative :: Affini Maturity :: bullying :: Memory Maker :: chronic fatigue syndrome :: Uplifting :: lingo :: optimisation :: Digitisation :: Iterations of the Self :: Conflict :: eat :: Grooming :: Attractivity Conditioning :: the nature of pleasure :: Dreams :: chores :: Screen Games :: Affini Compact Naval Vessel Classifications ::
Book 1
TerraTranslate :: Raqi Marr :: Punica Granatum :: The Affini Compact :: Landamar Mobile Fleet :: Hormone Replacement Therapy :: The Chimera Module :: Affini :: Intersidera :: Posters :: Magnesium :: Wonderland :: The Hundredth Time: Part I :: Communication :: aftermath :: Physical Confrontation :: Garments :: Interspecies Comparisons :: Touch :: Equality :: Hypnokink :: Speaking :: ahftrojn,lpijmnhfkg :: Pretheya :: Magic :: scared :: Materas Marr ::