xistentia | Employment AMA; text: Graced

It's fine, it's something I'm still adjusting to realizing people don't just know now, since I'm used to it being obvious when people looked at me. I used to be disabled. I was in an accident when I was a child, it injured part of my neck so I couldn't walk or breathe on my own anymore. I was healed when I went somewhere else just before I came here, but until then I was...restricted in a lot of ways.

Indeed. That's one of the many things I wish wasn't quite so universal.

Edited 2017-07-03 16:41 (UTC)

I have never heard of such a thing happening before. Mayhap not the accident itself, but surviving such an injury in the first place. The healing doctors were unable to help you?

Regardless, I am content to know that you're no longer limited by such a thing. Now that you are physically able, what training must you do in the future to become an astronaut?

Perhaps when one becomes a casualty of their own hubris they will think before forcing others' hands.

Possibly? The technology isn't completely identical, so there would be a lot of educated guessing going on at first. But I've been studying things for that exact reason, so hopefully if it becomes critical I could be more certain I could help without destroying something.

Oh wow. That's a pretty big question. If Oracle weren't already well claimed at least in my universe, I would probably go with that. I guess...Asteria. I don't know what powers I'd like to have, though.

Quite. I'm amazed we've been able to keep everything as quiet as we have, considering the numerous times several races have wanted to invade us. We've been lucky enough to keep things from actually reaching Earth so far, but I'm not sure how long that can last, and I would really like to be able to tell people about the good that's out there before they end up facing the bad and become biased against all other races.

Depending on your interpretation, we have taken things. Most of it has been long abandoned technology, by races that died or left centuries before we got there. But we still did take things, and even if I usually agree on how it's been used, I won't argue that several races would be within their rights to fear us for that. I really do wish the space program weren't so deeply entrenched in the military for that reason, but it can't be helped at this point I guess.

No, medicine and technology weren't that advanced in my world yet. But I was still lucky that they were advanced enough to keep me alive, that might not have been the case if I'd been born a few decades before. And I was lucky that society started realizing people like me were people around the time of my accident so I could continue my education like I did. But part of why I got into the field I did was the hope that some other world might have a cure for me. And that did happen, although not quite in the way I expected it to.

I don't know if I actually would now, but if I did want to I would have to at the very least go through quite a lot of physical training to make up for all the years my muscles deteriorated from disuse. I think I'm actually happy working where I am now, and I did get to see the stars in a rather unconventional way still.

That isn't so surprising. I don't believe even the white magic of my world would be able to reverse damage so severe. Full glad am I that you had the chance to be healed.

What is this unconventional way you saw the stars?

That's good to know. I have some training and experience in... combat and tactics, but I'm no expert with the tech.

Yeah. I guess I always thought it was impossible there wasn't a cure out there somewhere. I still can't decide if that was optimistic or foolish, some days.

We had access to something that let people...swap bodies simplifies it a little, but it comes close. And some of my colleagues needed assistance when they couldn't come back to Earth, so I switched placed with another woman on board for several weeks. It wasn't ideal in a lot of ways, but it was still amazing.

Well, even though I've spent most of my adult life around members of the military, I wouldn't have any idea where to start in a real fight. We've all got weaknesses other people balance out.

That's what I wanted to figure out, so thanks for putting up with my questions.

If you ever wanted to learn, by the way, I can teach you.

No problem. I appreciate people who ask questions instead of just making assumptions about what they think they already know.

I'll...keep that in mind, thanks.

I have heard of something similar happening in my world - a soul possessing a body not its own. I imagine it must have been easier to switch with someone of the same gender. The example I know of is a man co-inhabiting the body of a woman.

This other woman was traveling among the stars?

Oh? Why 'Asteria?'

I think you're wise to want people to hear about the good. First impressions are important, aren't they? And for something this massive, even more so! I'm not from another planet, but if I had to introduce myself to humans or humanity at large, I'd hope I could control the circumstances of that introduction. I've had some practice, having talked to quite a few people from worlds other than the one I came from. I can't say it gets easier to explain certain things, no matter how many times I've done it.

Re-purposing something that's no longer being used doesn't sound like a terribly dangerous idea. You make a good point about the perils of a close relationship between science and government. I'm not totally unfamiliar with the general idea.

Doing that makes you look like an idiot in the end. I'd rather ask.

No problem. Trying to see if we can get organized, so we're prepared for whatever is thrown our way.

I had a lot of time to read sometimes obscure mythology in my childhood, and I remember her being...well, like a lot of greek and roman myths the name pops up a lot, but she was notably a deity associated with the night sky, and prophecy I think, which is a good enough parallel for having a deep connection to finding and applying information. So, it would go in line with my work. And it's one of the few latin and greek names I find pretty that other people wouldn't have difficulty prononucning.

Yeah. And considering I don't think we've always had the chance to give other races a good first impression due to cirucmstances conspiring against us, I think the least we can do is control things well enough so the first time most of humanity finds out we're not alone, they meet our friends. Because we do have them out there, even if sometimes even to me it seems otherwise.

It probably wouldn't be, if reactivating some of it didn't more that occasionally draw the attention of races that have ulterior motives. When we first started experimenting with the Stargates, it--drew the attention of a parasitic race. Which might not have been quite so bad if they had believed in asking consent to use people's bodies. I still think it was worth the cost, in the long run, but I can't forget that people on all sides have died in the quest for knowledge and discovery.

Yeah, god I can't imagine how bizarre that would be. When we use the communication stones, we always try to match people to others of their gender for that reason. It's difficult enough adjusting to the weight and appearance of a new body, without having new...parts.

Yeah. She and about eighty others got stranded a long way from home as a result of an experiment gone wrong. But they got stranded on the most amazing old ship. Even if it wasn't the most ideal situation for a number of reasons, and I was only there because I was needed to help keep them afloat, I was incredibly grateful for that chance.

I can't imagine what it would be like if I were stuck in the body of someone with ears and no tail. Do you have to adjust for things like that as well, or is your world one with humans as the only race?

What was it like?

Considering other people's ability to pronounce your name of choice seems like a very practical tactic. Are you very practical, Amanda Perry?

That adage about keeping your enemies closer does also say to keep your friends close. I hope you'll be lucky in that regard. It sounds like the universe is getting bigger and bigger around you. Having some allies for humanity wouldn't be a bad idea! Is there a particular way you would tell people? If it were up to you entirely.

You seem pretty responsible, all things considered. A lot of people would want that power at whatever cost. Some people might have seen the situation you described as completely acceptable.

I try to be. Which is a bizarre mental balancing act when you work with alien technology sometimes, being open to the idea of things that laugh in the face of everything you know while trying to work within the boundaries of the practical. Also, on a more mundane note, I've seen people stumbling over alien names enough to see how awkward that is in conversation. If I had a choice, I'd avoid the problem as much as possible.

If it were me? I'd probably do a press conference of some kind showing the Stargate opening. It proves what we can do, where we've been, but it's also...beautiful. Even the time I saw it when we thought we were possibly under attack, it was incredible. It's...indescriable, even having seen it.

Well, I'd like to say I'm just naturally selfless, but I know that's hardly the case. We all come to situations with our own biases, and losing the ability to brush your own hair when you're still a child gives you some unique ones. I know other people in my situation didn't live half as long as I did because other people thought their lives didn't have value. I can't think of the people who've died because of everything we've done with the Stargates as simply the cost of learning. They were people, not tools. Some couldn't be avoided, but I can't let myself believe that's okay. That slope's far more slippery than I'm comfortable with. Which, among a great many reasons, is why I work with the military and am not actually a member of their ranks.

Right now humans are the only sapient beings on Earth, and the only people on that ship were human, too. We have some relations with other races, but we're nowhere close to them settling on Earth yet.

It was beautiful. And terrifying, because if we didn't complete the repairs I was there to do the crew would have died since the ship wouldn't have been able to stop for supplies or fuel. And we were attacked once. And I did get thrown back into my body a couple times when the technology we were using lost connection momentarily, which was unsettling. But it was still the most wonderful thing I've ever done. Of course I guess I could be seeing things through rose tinted glasses since someone I love was up there.

My world has many. Au Ra, Elezen, Miqo'te, Hyur, Roegadyn, and Lalafell. There are the Padjal, but they are outliers and a rarity. We also have the Dravanians - you would likely know them as dragons - Moogles, Amalj'aa, Sahagin, Sylphs, Kobolds, and many other beast tribes who are not 'human' but I have not yet met.

To have seen so few other races here has been odd to say the least.

It sounds wonderful. Did you find your way back to your someone after you were returned to your body?

Wow. Yeah. If it's strange for me knowing other races exist but not being able to tell anyone who doesn't have the security clearance, I can't imagine what that must be like.

No. He and the rest of the crew still haven't found a way to return to Earth, so when the work was done I went back home and the woman I'd switched places with was back on the ship. I keep telling myself it just means we'll have a whole lot of stories to share when we do see each other again.

You have a perspective that few people seem to attain. It's intriguing! Not that I mean to sound like I'm gawking at you. I should say, I'm a little older than most and liable to live for a long while to come, so I've seen quite a variety of attitudes toward what you're speaking of here. They come and go pretty readily, though it's rare to run into someone who puts as much thought into it as you. The optimist in me would like to think it'll become more commonplace with time.

That's direct. I like it and I think people would appreciate it. There might be some panic initially, but that's been part of the public reaction to nearly every major scientific achievement I can remember. People have been convinced of a lot of things in the past. We shouldn't fly, we shouldn't fly into space, we shouldn't split the atom, we shouldn't clone anything, on and on.

Working from within (or alongside?) to make the system better? Now there's a sentiment that's interesting!

1. sounds hot or at least ont totally gay or just gay enough. lets do it

2. does it make u cry when u think abot it

All right, no one can say you weren't well warned when you get sucked into listening to me rant for hours about how no how single production of Chess has managed to not horribly mangle Florence's narrative. Or recognize that Freddie is gay. Or at least loves chess, not women.

Sometimes. Not as much as it used to. Partially because I realized it's never been my finger on the trigger and I can't control how my tools are used. I'm not happy about it, but if I hadn't learned to try to accept the things I can't control a long time ago I wouldn't have done anything with my life.

Employment AMA; text: Graced

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cw homophobic language

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