Tech! And Trouble!
February 5
We’ve programmed a new search pattern for the drones — or, rather, we found the parameters of a suggested new search pattern in the software. This was a surprise to me, because I didn’t know the software could do that. That surprise became apprehension when Hooper explained that the software couldn’t do that.
Fortunately, Ann Rochard’s our local Amalgamation tech expert, and she explained what happened. I wish I understood any of it, beyond the level of, “the drones can’t really think, but they can learn our software, and then guess what you want.” …How this is different from “the drone is magic and can cast spells” was not immediately obvious, but then I feel that way about most Earth technology. I wish we had magic available. Divination, psychometry — indeed, I would give much for access to a reliable necromantic ritual. It would make archeology so much easier if we could simply talk to the dead.
News from home could be better. More reports of deaths from ricin; turns out those Gaian bastards managed to contaminate Homeland Security’s antidote stockpiles. Not all of it, but enough that they don’t dare use it. They’re back to activated charcoal and electrolytes, and it’s not helping much. There are a lot of senior positions vacant in the agencies now. God knows I don’t care for how the government never does anything anymore, but I didn’t want any of those people to die.
Is this set in the same universe as Ghosts on an Alien Wind?
Yup!