scrape_r_rational/data/cache2/5isupw.md

## [RT][HF] The Maker's Ark, Chapter 32

* Author: u/DocFuture *
* URL: http://docfuture.tumblr.com/post/154574904841/the-makers-ark-chapter-32
* Score: 10

* Created: 2016-12-17T04:51:15

### Post:

[Link to content](http://docfuture.tumblr.com/post/154574904841/the-makers-ark-chapter-32)

### Comments:

> **u/DocFuture** [+2]  (2 minutes later)
> 
> Sorry to disappoint those who were hoping for immediate explosions and plasma 8-) But this is rational fiction, and Stella understands scope, and proportion, much better than Flicker does.

>> **u/Empiricist_or_not** [+2]  *Aspiring polite Hegemonizing swarm* (9 hours later)
>> 
>> Umm. . . You just had a presumably benevolent singleton put the whole US government on probation, for it's own good against existential threats like Stella and Flicker.  For those of us with some bureaucratic chops as gears within the machine, or followers of how the diplomatic game is really played: that is so fucking awesome! 
>> 
>> Lots of questions?
>> 
>> How does the EDU space regulations and UN treaty on space work? Does the EDU claim sovereignty over earth luna space, or are they just bullying like the Chinese did yesterday with the UUV?  Did the EDU set an organizing structure to regulate parking orbits as part of their mandate to defend earth and it's orbit? Why wasn't the satellite dish returned, too  much drag for Black Swan to bring down without burning it up, despite her *sf techno magic* powers?  Did we just see the limits, or even a false set of limits, of her current body demonstrated?

>>> **u/DocFuture** [+3]  (14 hours later)
>>> 
>>> Glad you liked it!  Warning, incoming infodump:
>>> 
>>> The EDU has claimed jurisdiction over the rest of the solar system (except for the surface of the Earth inside existing nations).  They are using regulations compatible with the Grs'thnk Trade League, making UN space treaties obsolete.  The Grs'thnk and their allies have a lot of experience with space travel and various necessary and desirable restrictions to make it reasonably safe.  They also use grav drives almost exclusively, so chemical rockets are primitive anachronisms.  The adaptions Stella and DASI crafted to allow them are a lot like what you might get if you had to come up with a reasonably safe way to let people ride horses on interstate highways--if your horse takes a dump on the road and someone else has to clean it up, you'll pay a fine 8-).
>>> 
>>> The FSA are the first entity other than the EDU to try to put a satellite of their own in Earth orbit since the Xelian invasion destroyed all the existing ones--everyone else has just been leasing the replacements that Stella put up (which are cheaper, better, and less hassle), or using free feeds for stuff that used to cost money.  But the FSA wanted their own spysat--and didn't want to comply with the regulations on avoiding all space debris (a pain for existing chemical launchers), security deposits (since the US hadn't recognized EDU jurisdiction yet) and providing full specs on the sat (because SECRET!!!).  So they just ignored them.
>>> 
>>> The satellite dish was too big and fragile to return to Earth, and not designed to be refolded once deployed (I was using the Orion sigint satellites as a model and they supposedly have 100m dishes).  Stella just vaporized it, along with the kickstage, the payload fairing, and assorted paint chips and the like.  Stella already has thousands of sats in LEO, and is planning more, and isn't going to allow anything that might start a buildup to a cascading Kessler syndrome.
>>> 
>>> No we haven't seen Black Swan's limits yet.  She has a grav drive, and can use her wings to receive beamed power from the ships in orbit if she temporarily needs more than her fusion plant can provide.
>>> 
>>> Two precedents Stella and Black Swan are setting:  nations can regulate airspace and radio frequency spectrum access, but they can't mandate or sell exclusive access.  People who are upset about this--the FCC, any company that paid a lot of money for exclusive frequency access, and any country that likes to threaten to shoot down intruding flyers.  The FAA are officially upset, but they aren't really, because DASI is helping them so much.  She provides them with full realtime tracking on every airplane in their jurisdiction, in all weather and at all altitudes, after the Xelians had vaporized most of their radars.  This increases safety greatly.  Air traffic controllers *really like* DASI.

>>>> **u/Empiricist_or_not** [+1]  *Aspiring polite Hegemonizing swarm* (20 hours later)
>>>> 
>>>> Much appreciated  also the mind-link w/o telepathy seems kinda obvious Ashil's helper computer to DASI to flicker's visor.  Might need some transition oversight team permissions, so probably with Ashil cloning the instance of her helper computer or some-such.

>>>>> **u/DocFuture** [+1]  (21 hours later)
>>>>> 
>>>>> There's going to be a scene, either in the main novel or a side story, on the assorted hazards and limitations of machine-mediated mind links, both from the Grs'thnk perspective, and from Doc's.

---