Data Note: A recently recovered
Principalian stasis object
Author: Network ArEG
A small [12K] damaged data file,
proton-coded using a simple variant of Sless26's Algorithm, was found
in a stasis module of Principalian age. This was the only surviving
item in the module. The code format was previously unknown, but
maximum-parsimony analysis suggests it is close to the root of
Sless26, rather than a derived form. A transcript of the file's
contents follows.
--
"The Kielbasa Machete," by
Sycamore Hudson, is a deceptively simple novel of sophont trafficking
on a decaying L-point habitat. Reference to traditional human food
and agricultural implements in the book's title is meant to convey
the persistence of cultural artifacts from one society to its
successors. The author, an historically referenced construct, was
instantiated by IBQ a.u., which first incorporated in the Sol system.
In this, its 6th novel,
Hudson continues exploring the world of the Relevancy, a time now
more than 3 centuries past. We return to Canis Miner, the
mineral-extraction a.u. staffed primarily by uplifted canids. The
protagonist of "Riding the GM" returns, but as an elder
statesbeing. Helena Malamute-Wong is a VP of CM. The protagonist of
TKM is Loh Neptune, a tool designer from the Oort Republic.
Neptune has lost his backup to a bolide
that perforated a vault belonging to the First Memory Bank of
Centaurus. All he knows about himself comes from the last 2 years.
He broke up with his life partner, a felid (!), on their anniversary.
Why? He doesn't know. His quest to recover the romantic ruin that
is his life leads him to the most dangerous sections of the habitat,
and plunges him into the midst of a shadow economy fueled by ruthless
exploitation. Ultimately, he stumbles onto evidence for a plot aimed
at the heart of the Relevancy itself, and makes himself a target for
every trafficker and kidnap-for-hire ring in the system. And so on.
A good read, TKM is lacking in
accuracy: Hudson has bent history in service of plot. For instance,
Neptune uncovers evidence of a zygote robbery that included the last
9 frozen humans. These zygotes, if they ever existed, would have
been destroyed long before the even1Sq366,#
--end of file--
Analysis of this document has just
begun, but it may be a part of the Organic Litsum, thought to have
been lost in the Second Nanobreak. Analytical results will be
presented at the next Conflex.
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