Schlock Mercenary

Yep, he's this cheery ball of sunshine.

Seems Evvin isn't too happy either:

https://www.schlockmercenary.com/2019-03-13

He is probably on about more long-term view. Given the "We're all refugees here. Running from entropy." stance said during Putzho's orientation.

Huh... I'm wondering what the specific doom they are foreseeing is (if it is a singular doom; that "wide road" line suggests many possibilities). My guess as the most likely would be that the array that size makes baryonic life a bigger target.

It's just an overly simplistic view. "Civilizations built mega-telescopes, and then died out." Factually true. But doesn't mean they died because of telescopes. They just all died out, eventually.

That seemed to be what Archie was saying, which is why Petey wasn't particularly worried. But now Evvy is saying it too, so now he's worried that galactic telescopes specifically lead to doom. Hopefully we get an explanation instead of a scene shift.

I'm guessing something like "seeing a lack of evidence of super-galactic-scale civilizations makes you want to start hiding too"

Yeah, it sounds like whatever people see when they make a super-telescope causes them to want to hide. And considering that the people doings said hiding are people with enough resources to make a super-telescope...

Yep, that's just his own brand of fatalism. "In order to survive, you'll have to hide, like we did."

I was wondering who would go with him. My vote would have been Kathryn, but basically any of the officers would work.

Tagon looks so cute when he is puzzled about something.

https://www.schlockmercenary.com/2019-03-16

Surprise.

And this makes more sense. Limited budget or no, if you only have the energy two send two minds, you're so limited that it's doubtful you'd get anything useful out of the endeavor.

Seems Petey needs to stop taking the Toughs and their pals for granted so much.

https://www.schlockmercenary.com/2019-03-18

I mean, it could've been Breya that volunteered her.

You could be right, but given the positioning of the Ambassador and Tagon Jr., she seemed to me to be looking daggers in Petey's general direction.

My impression was the opposite. It wasn't that she Got Volunteered, it's that no one mentioned it to her, she had to figure it out on her own and then volunteer. Which, since it's Petey, means she was manipulated into volunteering without him actually saying a word to her.

Now be fair there Tagon, you also chose not to refuse this contract on the whole-company level.

Good point. Of course, Tagon is at least to the point where he realizes that "choice" is not something many in the military are familiar with.

Of course, if what I've been told of so-called "mandatory fun" events from former and current military friends is even partly true, many in the military are very familiar with the illusion of choice.

Don't even get me started on "mandatory fun days". You'd be amazed at how even an evening at a bar can be utterly ruined by the mere fact that your CO told everyone to be there.

I ran into a few of those close to the end of my time in the British armed forces. I solved the problem by volunteering for guard duty, which as a very strange individual I used to actually like.

The military can suck the fun out of any activity, without much effort on its part.

Think, f'rex, about time on the firing range. Sure, you get to send rounds downrange, but then you have to clean the weapon to the armorer's satisfaction before you're allowed to turn the weapon back in.

The problem with that? They're never satisfied. You can spend hours cleaning every last bit of residue and assorted debris out of the inner workings of the weapon before it's deemed acceptable to return, and even then isn't guaranteed if something's crawled up the armorer's backside.

Edited by Nohbody on Mar 20th 2019 at 12:12:24 PM

Seems it's all done apart from tea and medals, or at least drinks with finger snacks.

https://www.schlockmercenary.com/2019-03-20

I guess all that has to happen is that you make a backup, Petey copies it, and sends it off. Makes sense.

As an aside, while I knew from reputation that "mandatory fun" was loathed by military personnel and a great example of "illusion of choice," I had no idea the feelings were this strong. Fascinating.

Yep, the Laz nanites are running on them all constantly, so all Petey needs is to request a backup that remembers consenting to the mission.

I think Tagon thought it would actually be his consciousness going... So this is a bit of a let down for him. No noble self sacrifice. Instead he's nobly self sacrificed someone ELSE.

And surely it'd be more ethical to ask the copy?