> Nanette: (Oh yeah, I guess we never did tell anyone about the nanites on the mini-ship, and the plan for potential instant communication. Oh well, might as well wait until we know for sure that it actually works, now. No need to potentially give them false hope, after all.) Also use your newfound knowledge of microbes to scan the humans with your type of nanites in them, don't do anything to change the situation unless there's an emergency, but it's good to be able to potentially see if anyone's at risk of infection? (Would this work for Ruby, too? She doesn't have as many anymore, but there's still some there, right?)
Post 229
>(Nanette) Work on preserving our food.Well, most of the food is packaged pretty airtight for good shelf life already and the nanites can't get in unless they break the seal to open the can/jar/packaging/whatever. There is some fresh fruit and vegetables that store well on their own, though, like earth apples and potatoes. Nanette makes sure they're free of anything that would make them rot or go bad.
>(Aaron) Calculate the ETA of the Klein Bottle at Earth so we can roughly tell what our comm delay will be.
Aaron calculates the ETA of the Kleine Bottle (spelled differently than the topological shape) to reach Earth to be five days, even with FTL drive.
> Nanette: (Oh yeah, I guess we never did tell anyone about the nanites on the mini-ship, and the plan for potential instant communication. Oh well, might as well wait until we know for sure that it actually works, now. No need to potentially give them false hope, after all.) Also use your newfound knowledge of microbes to scan the humans with your type of nanites in them, don't do anything to change the situation unless there's an emergency, but it's good to be able to potentially see if anyone's at risk of infection? (Would this work for Ruby, too? She doesn't have as many anymore, but there's still some there, right?)
The humans seem okay, although they do now have some Bintanni microbes in their microbiome. They have been eating Bintanni food, after all, even if it's human-compatible. Nanette did learn about what was harmful and not in a Bintanni ecosystem context, but the humans are new and they might (probably would) respond to any microbes differently than a native. ...The NASA team that sent them, and especially Ruby as a biochemist and xenobiologist, has to have thought of this and have a plan, right? In any case, there don't seem to be too many of the immune molecules that signal 'INFECTION!' in a human, and you're not sensing too many Bintanni microbes as if they're taking over. This does include Ruby.
What do you do now that the Kleine Bottle is off?
> Nanette: Find out which of Tag's accounts was created first. Maybe that's the more genuine one, although it's always possible for someone to lie at first and then later decide to portray themselves more honestly... Even if it can't be solid evidence either way, it would be interesting to see how old both of the accounts are.
Post 230
> Nanette: Find out which of Tag's accounts was created first. Maybe that's the more genuine one, although it's always possible for someone to lie at first and then later decide to portray themselves more honestly... Even if it can't be solid evidence either way, it would be interesting to see how old both of the accounts are.It appears that the government-aligned account was created first, about three years ago. The F.f.E.C. aligned account was created about eight months ago.
You do notice something else from your surveillance efforts. The F.f.E.C. aligned account has been active at Tag's home IP during times Tag was at their workplace or at least not at their house.
Edited by PointMaid on Mar 28th 2021 at 10:29:55 AM
Post 231
> Nanette: Investigate Tag's family/household more. Do the times the F.f.E.C. aligned account has been active match up with the times a teacher would be expected to be home? Also, are there any other computers or similar devices in their house?The activity does match up with times Tag's mate, the teacher, would be expected to be home. There are several such devices, including kid's data pads and one for each adult.
>(General) Read some of Tag's posts.
From the government-aligned account:
"You're absolutely right! We have to protect ourselves first. That we don't know where it will go is a problem, and we won't have control of our own destinies. We must meet them as equals."
"Do you have any proof that the information was used in an illegal way? That's what the law's for."
"We can't just not build, though. And that was the best spot. Closest to commuters, and they needed the waterfront access. Did you read the evaluation report? [link to the site evaluation report]"
From the F.f.E.C.-aligned account:
"It's madness. They're just shutting down dissenting voices… but, I know, some people just won't listen, regardless."
"I really fail to see your point. It could be bad, yes. But you're assuming the worst."
"You'll keep us informed, won't you? I know it's hard to get good information, sometimes."
Post 232
>(General) Show Feer what we have. It seems like Tag's more concerned with Free Speech being impeded than making contact with non-bintanni.> General: Also mention the possibility that it could be Tag's mate making the F.f.E.C. friendly posts instead.
Nanette brings this up with the humans and shows they what she's found, and the humans in turn bring this to Feer. (Yes, Feer has been cool about her so far, but she's still aware that sentient AI nanites reporting can weird people out. And manifesting in a form that can communicate isn't easy.)
They note that the F.f.E.C. aligned posts seem to be mostly pro-Free Speech… and that it's a distinct possibility it's not Tag but their mate using that particular account.
Feer says it's a good start, and agrees with the assessment. But even if it's Tag's mate, that could give them an in to find out more information, couldn't it? Feer wants them to confirm who's using the account and see if you might still be able to use them as an asset.
Edited by PointMaid on Mar 31st 2021 at 10:26:57 AM
Post 233
> Internal/General/Nanette: (Do we know the name of Tag's mate?)It hasn't been said out loud before. But your records indicate that Tag's mate is called Ch'he'loun, or Chel for short.
>(Nanette) Can you monitor Tag's home? Only the computer room to see who's really using it, of course.
Hmm. Looks like you can sneak a few nanites in to do that. Tag goes to their work, Chel goes to teach and brings the kids to an adjoining nursery school. But when Chel gets home after picking up the kids, they go to work in the computer room. Mostly grading papers, but you are able to see that they log on briefly to Tunnel Net under the F.f.E.C. aligned account.
>(Nanette) Withdraw the nanites from Tag and Chel's place.
>(General) Tell Feer it's Chel making those posts. A teacher would be a useful ally if she wouldn't immediately lose her job for teaching our POV. Someone have Ruby update the log. Also get her working on the anti-neutralizer again.
Now everyone pat me on the back and tell me how clever I am!> Nanette/Internal: Wait, is it really necessary to remove those few nanites? Is there any chance of them being discovered? (Also, it's not actually 25% of the entire car-sized swarm in there, right? That's just tracking what the processing is being used on, rather than where each individual nanite is?)
> General: Also consider: Chel lives with a partner who now appears to be against the F.f.E.C., and they have two small children. Maybe the teacher isn't in a safe position to be approached by the F.f.E.C.? It could still be worth it, but there could also be some risk.
Post 234
>(Nanette) Withdraw the nanites from Tag and Chel's place.> Nanette/Internal: Wait, is it really necessary to remove those few nanites? Is there any chance of them being discovered? (Also, it's not actually 25% of the entire car-sized swarm in there, right? That's just tracking what the processing is being used on, rather than where each individual nanite is?)
No, it' s not 25% of the swarm, correct. It was… probably?… not likely Nanette's few nanites would be discovered, but you never know, especially with Tag working for the government. You can ask them to do more surveillance if you want.
>(General) Tell Feer it's Chel making those posts. A teacher would be a useful ally if she wouldn't immediately lose her job for teaching our POV. Someone have Ruby update the log. Also get her working on the anti-neutralizer again.
> General: Also consider: Chel lives with a partner who now appears to be against the F.f.E.C., and they have two small children. Maybe the teacher isn't in a safe position to be approached by the F.f.E.C.? It could still be worth it, but there could also be some risk.
The humans bring up with Feer that it does indeed seem to be Chel, the teacher, making the F.f.E.C. friendly posts, not Tag. And… that if they put themself out there, their career, relationship, and children could be at risk. But, they could be a useful ally. Is it worth it? Feer says they trust you on this, it's your call whether to make contact and whether it's worth it or not, and whether to continue investigating the couple.
Ruby updates the log. As distinct from the blog, which she has to be more careful about. Waverton asks her to keep working on the anti-neutralizer. She does some calculations for that on her datapad and makes notes for the experiments she needs to do to verify if it works as intended.
> Nanette: We're still not sure if contacting Chel is the best idea, but in the mean time, try to identify the best times and places where contact could be made. Staying hidden, follow Chel for a few days and see if there are any points in their routine where they tend to be alone and could potentially be approached without causing alarm.
Post 235
> Nanette: We're still not sure if contacting Chel is the best idea, but in the mean time, try to identify the best times and places where contact could be made. Staying hidden, follow Chel for a few days and see if there are any points in their routine where they tend to be alone and could potentially be approached without causing alarm.Nanette sends a few nanites to covertly follow Chel for a few days, identifying their routine and when they might be alone and might best be approached. Check back in a few days.
>(General) See what Ruby needs and get it for her.
Let's see. Ruby needs some biology lab space and equipment, standard reagents to control things like pH and viscosity, manufacturing ability for the new anti-neutralizer and if necessary neutralizer, some Nanette nanites for tests, and… well, she was going to say an animal model, but she's not sure there's a good animal model around, humans being the only Earth species here and she not even being fully human. She decides she'll just have to try to culture and test on her own cells for that part. That will require the right reagents, setup, and an incubator.
She was hoping Ro and Blu could help out with this again, they should have the right setup and you helped them with calibrating their instruments a bit back.
In fact, Ruby's wondering if she should do this and allow Nanette more control over her… but a little voice in her head is whilspering, "Yes".
You're all hungry and it's getting late, so you have some dinner and prepare for sleep. Only a few more days until the mini-ship should arrive at Earth.

Post 228
>(Nanette) Continue practising.(Roll: 5.) Her practicing pays off. This time she's able to differentiate between harmful microbes and… anything else.
>(General) I think a small celebratory shot of liquor and a song is in order to conclude the ceremony, then back to work. Someone ask the ship a traditional song for launching a boat. Ask Ruby to update the log and send it to Feer for approval.
You find some (human-safe) Bintanni liquor to celebrate. The ship searches its music archives for boat launching music, or at least boat music, and comes up with… Sloop John B.? It was in Waverton's personal files as sung by the Beach Boys. You're not sure if it's a traditional launching song, but it does contain the lyrics "I want to go home", which is certainly what you hope the little ship will do, and help you do.
You send the ship off! (You don't see much except it zooming off like a plane and maybe a dot ascending into the sky)
Afterwards, Ruby updates the log. She assures the readers that they're making progress toward continued communication with Earth. Then she writes a little blurb sharing the Earth origins of the discovery of the topological shape that is a Klein Bottle, and a small video of the humans singing Sloop John B. (Without showing the Bintanni – that could be dangerous for them if they're recognized as working for the F.f.E.C.)
> Nanette: See if either of Tag's accounts or anyone who frequently interacts with either of them have interacted with Ruby's blog in any way.
It looks like Tag's home IP has visited Ruby's blog but not left any messages.
What next?