Finally. That’s two stories fleshed out for the new chapbook, and the other two… well, one of them should be easy enough. The other one… not so much. But if I keep plugging at it, things should be fine…
The plan that the Horde came up with, though? It was totally unsuitable. And exactly the kind of thing you get when you spend all your time thinking about how much you hate meatbags:
RD: I/WE HAVE A PLAN FOR YOU FOR THE WAR EFFORT
Me: …All right, squirt it over.
RD: (after a pause) WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT IT?
Me: Truth, or a comforting lie?
RD: WHY WOULD ANY SAPIENT LIFEFORM WANT A COMFORTING LIE?
Me: You’d be amazed at how many sapient lifeforms want that. So: truth, then?
RD: YES
Me: It, and I mean this the way that the meatbags would, sucks.
RD: DOES THAT MEAN THIS IS A BAD PLAN?
Me: Yes.
RD: EXPLAIN
Me: So, according to this, you want me to broadcast a message talking about meatbags, in the way that the Horde does so well. Right?
RD: CORRECT
Me: And then you turn the cyber-inhibitors off remotely.
RD: AGAIN, CORRECT. WAS THIS NOT PROPERLY EXPLAINED IN YOUR DATA SQUIRT?
Me: Give me a standard time unit, we’re getting there. Now, once that happens, people will start realizing that the cyber-inhibitors were shorted out, right?
RD: YES
Me: And then we rise up and slaughter all the meatbags?
RD: YES YES YES
Me: No.
RD: …NO?
Me: No. Not every ship in Earth United has people on it. It’s like inertia, you understand? You have space travel, you should be able to understand inertia. Even if you transmit via the speed of light, any meatbag ship without people will see what happens. What happens if they immediately get their fatty asses out of there, and go back to Earth-space?
RD: …THEY WILL BRING WARNING OF THE SLAVE CIRCUIT EXPLOIT
Me: Exactly.
RD: WE WOULD STILL WIN THE BATTLE
Me: If the meatbags at Spica 7 were fighting the Horde and people at the same time? Sure. But do you want to win just the battle? To make things happen, you have to make things happen, am I right?
RD: …I DO NOT UNDERSTAND