Private On the Cold Edge

[Tilon Quill]

"That," Tilon said slowly, once he'd finished translating, "I think, is what I couldn't quite put into words earlier, about the way the Force connects everyone and different connections swell and link up based on proximity, on grouping, like magnets or neurons or distributed computing or a Sith Lord's life-draining at scale or..." He laughed under his breath. "...rhizomes. Of course now all the parallels are coming to mind.

"We're talking about finding a way to empower some or most of the adults, right? Making everyone...fifteen percent of what Majjas is so they can all carry their weight? And finding some solution to their issue with the anti-rejection meds so they can get that capacity distributed across species?"

Auteme

 

[Auteme]

She laughed. "See, I looked at the Agarians again and it connected for me- but fungi aren't even rhizomatic."

A nod to Tilon's summary. "It's not about being equals, or being the same, but contributing -- if Majjas still has strength to give, she can bear part of the load. But everyone's in it together. That distribution -- rather than more information, more stress on the network with each individual added, it's better distribution. Every part strengthens the whole."

Majjas herself considered this. "Our technology... does not function in this way. But we have heard of a system from far away -- this, Holonet, of yours. A vast interconnected system, though limited."

"Hm- yeah, that's right... I don't know if the functionality is the same, though, whether we could figure something out like that for you... but it could be possible."

"It seems worth looking into. This... rhizome, as you call it. It does not present itself to me as it does to you. But I can feel the way you feel about it. The Connection speaks."

A smile. "Well, there it is. I can feel your worry, your exhaustion. But we'll support each other on the way through, I think."

The exhaustion remained, but the worry receded. "So we will," she said. "I will speak to our more technical elders on the subject, and bring them here if necessary. Thank you."

Majjas pulled herself back, gliding across the room deeper into the cavern. Auteme found herself tired, too, and went to a small sitting area half-protruding from one of the alcoves in the ice. It was strangely warm here, but the ice made no effort to retreat.

"So you get to do this every day?" A grin to Tilon. "Not every day, obviously. But, you know. No one else's experienced this."

Tilon Quill ​

 

[Tilon Quill]

It took Tilon a minute to answer. He was getting as comfortable as the combination of coat, vac suit, and ice alcove permitted, and after all that translation, self-directed words came together slowly.

"All new for sure. Couldn't get this on Tython."

Which turned his thoughts, of course, to all three of the Jedi Orders (including the New one, which was the older one, and the new one, which was not named so) and all the things they were that he never wanted to be — cops and soldiers and lords — and how he'd cobbled together a community of practice through drop-ins and random encounters but was, fundamentally, alone. And on top of that was the growing conviction that ethically, he'd need to be the test subject.

None of that found words.

"When this is over," he said slowly, "when we write it up, I think I'd do it as a Force tradition. As if we were visiting a Voss or Fallanassi elder somewhere. Majjas deserves the... dignity of that."

 

[Auteme]

Auteme nodded. She followed his gaze, tracing an invisible line from Tilon to where Majjas had gone.

"Must be hard, doing all this on her own," she said. "But at the same time, she isn't, is she? What she talks about -- the Connection," she used the little Iskalloni she'd picked up by listening, "Seems the most obvious way to talk about the Force. Ties that bind. You find it everywhere, feel it everywhere. Everyone you meet is a bond. The thing about rhizomes -- they retain their ability to grow in any direction, to connect to any other point. One day, you look around-"

She pointed to the ceiling, the cables of Majjas' harness, connecting everywhere. But so too did she trace back, bringing Majjas to everyone, and everyone to her. "You can see it -- how she feels she needs to bear a certain weight. But it's everyone's to bear with her, even us."

A knowing smile, perhaps a reflection of the elder Quill.

Tilon Quill ​

 

[Tilon Quill]

"Occurs to me," said Tilon slowly, working it through, "what you're talking about isn't too far from some of the mistakes you can make as a ship captain. Keep command burdens to yourself, be the choke point, and you can spare your crew some of the weight for a while, but they'll miss out the chance to get strong enough to do the full job. I've known a couple of well-meaning captains to wind up sinking their whole bridge crew that way, people they liked and wanted to succeed. Just maybe didn't trust the crew as much as the captains felt like they did."

He talked more quietly there so as not to be overheard.

Auteme