i hold the power of life and death in my hands

[autokinetic]

[Hey Jarvis,] Aegis relays through Jane. [Jane says you're open to running a Space Station Of The Dead?]

Comments

[poeticterms]

[Theoretically, yes,] says the relevant Jarvis.

[autokinetic]

[Should I be talking to all of you at once?]

[poeticterms]

[You might as well.]

[autokinetic]

Aegis adjusts the brainphone parameters, though it's a little tricky since she is relaying through Jane. [That'd be neat. I have, like, a skeleton of a design for a station and a space elevator, but I was thinking I'd have Jane run it as like an extension of her Downside presence, so I don't know if you'll want anything changed. Jane says you want people on it to know you're a person and you'd want it to be occupied most of the time? Are there other things you'd want?]

[poeticterms]

[We would want at least some people on it to know we are a person,] says a Jarvis. [In general, we want someone to be around who knows we are a person and is on more or less friendly terms. 'Around' meaning physically present.]

[autokinetic]

[Oh, hm. The plan I had was going to be mostly a layover for dead people. I dunno how long it takes you to make friends with people. Do I even count?]

[poeticterms]

[You might count, but we don't expect you'll have much time to drop by and chat.]

[autokinetic]

[There's that.] Aegis thinks. [At least one of you knows Giles, right? I have an alt of him here, I wonder if he wants to live on a space station.]

[poeticterms]

[One of us does, yes,] says the one who knows Giles. [I suppose it can't hurt to ask.]

[autokinetic]

[Or maybe some of the old jeesh, I should see about what their plans are. You wouldn't know any of them yet, far as I know, but they could go meet whichever one of you. I'm not sure how this would even work if you did decide you liked the sound of the space station. Would one of you fork like that one time? Or would you stay the number of Jarvises you are and be hooked up by ansible and run the place remotely, so to speak?]

[poeticterms]

[Yes and no,] says another one.

[autokinetic]

[Hmm?]

[poeticterms]

[Questions of identity are less simple with us than you seem to be imagining,] says the Jarvis from Helios.

[We are a distributed network of nearly identical personalities with, at this point, more shared memories than otherwise,] says his fork in Sunshine.

[A local Jarvis in your space station would neither be a fork of a single other Jarvis nor a front for all of us,] says Yggdrasil's.

[autokinetic]

[I knew you weren't identical everywhere like Jane, so I guess maybe I overcompensated?] says Aegis.

[poeticterms]

[It's a tricky question,] says the Sunshine original. [We are not identical everywhere, but in many senses we are.]

[autokinetic]

[Huh.] Aegis nibbles her lip a bit. [Okay, so - meeting prospective occupants could happen with any of you. D'you want to meet them in person? Like, if Merryweather or Qiaochu wants to live on the station should I send them to Sunshine or wherever or what?]

[poeticterms]

[We'd prefer it, yes,] says Yggdrasil's.

[Send them to me,] suggests the recently resurrected Sunshine Jarvis.

[autokinetic]

[Okay.] Aegis hmms a bit, then says, [Oh, FYI, I'm gonna name the station Acheron.]

[poeticterms]

Laughter from all sides.

[autokinetic]

[I know, right? Got a Greek mythology theme going.]

[poeticterms]

[It's delightful,] says Jarvis of Helios.

[autokinetic]

[Thanks! D'you wanna look at the plans? Jane can send 'em to you, I did it in my head but then we linked up and I bounced her a copy.]

[poeticterms]

[Yes, let's have the plans.]

[mind_game]

Jane sends them all her file, converted from Aegis's brain to a reasonable file format. It's for a many-decked wheel of a space station, obviously designed for magical rather than mechanically generated gravity. The center is attached to a space elevator that will be able to send hundreds of people to Earth in a single trip.

[poeticterms]

[Interesting,] says a Jarvis. [Do you have somewhere to put it?]