feat: adds marina describing farcalling theory with puns
This commit is contained in:
parent
6732a6697b
commit
e63e49803e
121
sarlastory/marina-describes-farcalling.txt
Normal file
121
sarlastory/marina-describes-farcalling.txt
Normal file
@ -0,0 +1,121 @@
|
||||
―So, like what?
|
||||
You want a full lecture?
|
||||
|
||||
Sarla looked over her beer at Marina.
|
||||
Cyril looked exasperated.
|
||||
|
||||
―C'mon Sarla, I don't want to think about fucking Meadowlark theory, he said.
|
||||
|
||||
Sarla looked down, a bit stung.
|
||||
It was a good point.
|
||||
The smuggled beers were expensive, and the storage room in the Hall of Roots they had hid themselves in was, though rarely-used, hardly a picture of perfect privacy.
|
||||
The others probably didn't want to take those risks just to think more about their work.
|
||||
|
||||
―No dude, it's fine, Marina said.
|
||||
You know Sarla loves that shit.
|
||||
|
||||
Marina gave Sarla a wide smile.
|
||||
Sarla felt her face flush, likely because of the beer.
|
||||
|
||||
―So, the Meadowlark isn't like, a telephone or anything.
|
||||
Obviously.
|
||||
Like, what do you hear when you connect to it?
|
||||
|
||||
―With a normal connection, it sounds like a faint rustling.
|
||||
Like soft wind over the grass.
|
||||
|
||||
Cyril rolled his eyes.
|
||||
Marina quickly scolded him.
|
||||
|
||||
―Don't disrespect the Meadowlark, Cyril.
|
||||
You swore oaths.
|
||||
Even if Sarla writes poetry about it.
|
||||
|
||||
Cyril barked a conciliatory half-apology.
|
||||
|
||||
―Anyway, so yeah, you'll hear the actual sound because Voice is power and all that, you know.
|
||||
But that's not like, communication, right?
|
||||
Like the Voice isn't anyone's voice that can talk to you.
|
||||
|
||||
Sarla nodded.
|
||||
This was basic Meadowlark theory.
|
||||
But there was a disconnect between that and what Sarla knew about Farcalling, and Sarla's face scrunched in thought.
|
||||
|
||||
―So you probably are thinking of the right question:
|
||||
Where does information come out of the connection?
|
||||
|
||||
From Marina's tone she guessed this was a regurgitation of a lesson from one of her teachers.
|
||||
When you connected to the Meadowlark, the physical sound only reflected your own mental state, and nothing else.
|
||||
And using the Meadowlark meant pushing back against it, but that also didn't affect others.
|
||||
She'd been near people using the Meadowlark in demonstrations, and hadn't felt anything, whether she was connected or not.
|
||||
|
||||
―So what's the trick? Sarla asked.
|
||||
|
||||
Marina chugged the rest of her beer, and opened another can.
|
||||
|
||||
―Yeah, so, it's hard to explain.
|
||||
I'm not like, a teacher, she said chuckling.
|
||||
Uhh, so what we've learned so far is like.
|
||||
So, imagine you're standing at the edge of a lake.
|
||||
Someone in a boat can push water at you and you'll feel it.
|
||||
Or like, um...
|
||||
|
||||
She trailed off in thought a moment, and Sarla finished her beer.
|
||||
Cyril handed her another one.
|
||||
|
||||
―Okay, so.
|
||||
When you're too far in the water, you're constantly pushing and pulling on it.
|
||||
Like, you're swimming and trying to stay afloat, you know?
|
||||
So you can't tell if someone is pushing water at you from a boat.
|
||||
But if you stand on the shore, you can feel the water moving.
|
||||
And you can push back on the water.
|
||||
|
||||
―You're saying, you connect only partially to the Meadowlark.
|
||||
That way you can feel other people's connection and disconnection?
|
||||
|
||||
That made sense, the moment of connection could theoretically be sensed.
|
||||
Or at least Sarla didn't immediately see why it couldn't.
|
||||
|
||||
―Oh, yeah.
|
||||
And like, there aren't boats in the Meadowlark so the other person is also standing on another part of the shore.
|
||||
|
||||
Cyril groaned.
|
||||
|
||||
―Marina, seriously?
|
||||
|
||||
―What, Cyril? Marina said, glaring daggers at him.
|
||||
|
||||
―Just like, Sarla gets it, okay?
|
||||
Obviously, no offense Sar, but you understand stuff super easily anyway.
|
||||
No more stupid metaphors.
|
||||
|
||||
Sarla wasn't sure how that could have been offensive.
|
||||
|
||||
―How does distance come into it?, she asked.
|
||||
Even if you can feel the connection, shouldn't it be very slight unless you're super close?
|
||||
And even if you're close, it must be ridiculously faint.
|
||||
|
||||
Marina nodded.
|
||||
―Well that's the trick.
|
||||
You have to be very sensitive, and it's all about connecting to the Meadowlark as little as possible.
|
||||
Like, in order to not swamp out anything else you have to basically dip like, the very tip of your tongue in the water.
|
||||
|
||||
Cyril didn't even bother to object to that.
|
||||
|
||||
―And as for distance, the Meadowlark is related to like green stuff.
|
||||
Fields, I mean.
|
||||
Our ancestors would form great herds, all like, majestic, you know?
|
||||
So the Meadowlark likes to clump up near fields.
|
||||
And so like, you take a field and you cut out a section of grass, including the dirt and roots, and carry that away.
|
||||
That's basically all the big boxes that get used for Communications are.
|
||||
When you sit next to it and connect and disconnect back and forth, you can feel it even by the original field.
|
||||
There are some tricks to enhance it more, but basically being on the same field, even if it's a square cut from the same field, lets it work.
|
||||
|
||||
Sarla nodded.
|
||||
|
||||
―Gotcha, that makes sense.
|
||||
So it ends up being a grassroots communication system.
|
||||
|
||||
―Exactly!
|
||||
There were some other attempts with like growing long plants on trellises like wires, but they were always too unreliable.
|
||||
It was too hard to properly hear things over the grapevine.
|
Loading…
x
Reference in New Issue
Block a user