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Chapter: Chapter 5: Construction

  • Anonymous asked: Idrisah, what was the first time you heard Tiiliitian, and what made you want to study the language since you can’t speak it? Idrisah: Well, I've always been a language nerd. In high school I took most of the classes they offered. Those were human languages, though... Portuguese, Mandarin, French, etc. I had definitely HEARD Tiiliitian spoken before, but it never stuck in my mind as anything more than "strange." My first real life encounter with it was during a cultural exchange program our band did with an avian musical school. They learned to perform some of our human music, and we learned to perform some of theirs. But for the pieces with a vocal section, we couldn't sing their bitonal lyrics. So they had me and another clarinetist duet those parts. Harmonizing with the Tiiliitian instructor as they sang our part with us was enthralling. In those moments, I felt like I was on the precipice of a well of history as deep as humanity's, that I simply hadn't even considered before. How could I not want to learn more?

    RttS Reader Questions 24

    May 25, 2025

  • Anonymous asked: So Gillie, you're a redhead now, but did you ever experiment with other colorsor styles when you were younger? How easy is it to dye your hair and stuff in the future? (Does Dirtball have a hairdresser??) Gillie: It's been many colors, having white hair makes it very easy to experiment. I spent a few years in college as pink, but I've settled on orange for now. The annoying part has always been staining my lashes and eyebrows to match. Idrisah has suggested I get gene therapy to become a permanent redhead, but that would probably make my body hair darker, too. No thanks, I'd have to shave even more often... Shikaviil having a hairdresser is a funny joke. Most people here cut their own hair. I just use a box dye.

    RttS Reader Questions 23

    May 22, 2025

  • Chaos asked: Talita, how would you feel about living in the centaur home world? Do you like centaur culture? Do you want a clan? Talita: I don’t know... And I don't... fucking care... I’m so tired of people asking. A lot of humans seem to think all my problems would be solved by assimilating into some culture I know jack shit about on a planet I’ve never seen. You know, humans who have been to Earth, like, once? Assuming I feel isolated because I’m not surrounded by centaurs, and not because their idea of accommodating me is telling me to fuck off to a place I’ve never been? Like thanks, sure, I’ll uproot my entire life straight away sir, so you don’t have to worry about me needing the keys to the freight elevator to get to my third floor classes ever again! So glad we got that settled, sir!!

    RttS Reader Questions 22

    May 20, 2025

  • Angoryt asked: Ohwitiil and Cheevwut, where did you two grow up? Are you from Nexus Jovia. What are your educations? Cheevwut: Ha haw! I've never been to Nexus Jovia! I grew up on the homeplanet! I was born at Oowouiib Ayiizty, a huge dun-house in the east of the Wia archipelago. Specifically in the Viiolech principality. Right next to all the rich fucks in Tiiliit's Throne. Not that they gave anything to us! My house had some community education for kids, but I hated it, and my dunparent never forced me to go. I left the house to work when I was 10. I was always interested in human media and wanted to work somewhere less lame than Viiolech, so I did some administration work training, took English classes, started doing remote work for Jovian companies, and eventually landed here! Wia Archipelago: Viiolech Tiiliit's Throne Ohwitiil: I was born in a small dun-house in Uunraashi City, which has many humans from the China republic. But, my dunparent traveled often to Callisto as part of their work researching the compositions of icy moons and exoplanets for resource extraction. I received early education from my dun-parent, and they instructed me on their field of study as well. I was selected by a bright-sponsor at 11 and went into a formal science tutorship. I grew up speaking Mandarin more than English, but I currently work with English speaking humans. Hmph. I still find it more difficult. Uunraashi City: icy crust vertical shaft horizontal shafts

    RttS Reader Questions 21

    May 17, 2025

  • SIGSTKFLT asked: So, how does everyone's colour perception work? Humans: Violet through red visual range with red-green-blue sensitive cells and low light vision cells. Brightest perceptual hue is yellow, darkest perceptual hue is violet. Mel: Yellow appears brightest to us because it activates more of our retina cells. Killian: Makes sense, our sun is yellow. Avians: Ultraviolet through red visual range with red-green-blue-UV sensitive cells and low light vision cells. Brightest perceptual hue is cyan, darkest perceptual hue is red. Cheevwut: We're the only sophonts who can see UV. It's kinda annoying in co-species spaces. I feel like I'm spotting ghosts half the time around my human coworkers. Like, what do you mean you can't see that stain? It's right there! Our sense of color contrast clashes too. I hate when humans put cyan text on white. It's so hard to read. Ohwitiil: Or red on black. Bug Ferrets: Green through red visual range with red-yellow-green sensitive cells and heat/IR sensitive pit membranes. Brightest perceptual hue is orange, darkest perceptual hue is greenish cyan. Gillie: (ASL) Bug ferret color vision is specifically geared to see the common colors of bioluminescent nectar and fruit sources in the tunnels of their homeplanet, giving them narrower sensitivity bands. Their heat pits functionally allow them to see infrared, but the image loses clarity if it's too hot and humid to keep the membrane cool. Fancier bug ferret screens have a heat pump layer to replicate the "color" of IR for digital images. I've heard they can lag badly with video, though. Diagram cross-section of bug ferret pit eye: pit casing dermis skull plate muscle nasal cavity heat-sensitive membrane Centaurs: Blue through near infrared visual range with red-yellow-cyan sensitive cells and low light vision cells. Brightest perceptual color is golden yellow, darkest perceptual hue is sky blue. Talita: Violet and indigo just kinda look grey to me... Near IR doesn't make my vision that different from a human's, but I sometimes get surprised by the missing red contrast when I look at things through my phone camera. Human RGB screens tend to look really washed out, especially the reds and cyan. And the slow refresh rate on cheaper models gives me a headache... I usually get 6-tone screens for my devices with a panspecies refresh speed.

    RttS Reader Questions 20

    May 15, 2025

  • OfAllTrades asked: Hey Bip! I was wondering: What do you like to do as a hobby/in your free time? Do AI even have hobbies or free time? Bip: Ugh, squishy people... Do you know how you sound? "Surely, because I can only conceptualize you as a talking tool, you have no desires outside of tirelessly working to produce goods and services for me!" I used to have a vibrant social life. You know, before a giant hole got blown through it!!

    RttS Reader Questions 19

    May 13, 2025

  • TomTheDragon asked: Clayton, what do you suppose your supervisor is getting up to that's more important than babysitting your coworkers who have a death wish? Clayton: That's none of my business.

    RttS Reader Questions 18

    May 10, 2025

  • LOG 5.2: Electrician Worms Image: A segmented worm-like robot with a soft plastic exterior, thin retractable ribbon-like legs, and a cone shaped face made of a ring of folded thin metallic tool arms. It has two camera arms that it holds up like eye stalks. Electrician worms are soft-bodied robots that contain sophisticated, flexible pneumatic interiors. Much like modular frontloaders, they can either be remote controlled, or given a program to complete with their simple onboard AI. They are often used to repair or delicately dismantle electronic parts hidden in tight spaces on spacecraft, and come in a variety of sizes (although the smallest ones have much more limited equipment and self-governance). The exact set of tools found in their manipulator set can vary, and some worms are specialized for tasks including light welding, metal cutting, and drilling. Cameras wire stripper heavy manipulator soldering iron soldering paste printhead wire cutter fine manipulator drill soldering paste storage CPU batteries retractable legs pneumatic segments retroflective polymer skin refueling ports Leg Components: Image: A cross section of one of the ribbon-like legs shows it contains thin cables attached to the inside of its flexible flat plastic casing. electrostatic adhesive pad cable tendons Cables pull on the inside of the thin leg casing, flexing it to grip surfaces without adding bulk. Segment Locomotion: Turning Twisting Extension The pneumatic segments push against each other, while intersegmental servos twist and push segments to produce a wide range of motion for navigating tight spaces.

    Runaway to the Stars: Page 164

    May 08, 2025

  • LOG 5.1: The Modular Frontloader The main workhorse of the junkyard is the modular frontloader, a semi-autonomous electric utility vehicle that can be remotely or manually controlled. Image: A mid-sized orange, grey, and black utility vehicle with manipulator arms, a front attachment hitch, an oversized cab, and folding radiators is parked in resting position. It is slightly over 3 meters in height and 4 and half meters long. Next to it stands Tod, a human slightly under 2 meters tall, and Talita, who is 3 meters tall. Modular frontloaders can be programmed to follow autonomous cycles, and have a basic algorithmic AI that can assess environmental conditions and make decisions about how to best complete assigned tasks. This AI isn't nearly as complex (or energy intensive) as sapient AI, and when it encounters problems it can't resolve, like the vehicle getting stuck or damaged, it alerts the junkyard staff of the issue to come help it. The vast majority of the work done by the staff is responding to these distress calls, field repairs, and completing tasks that the basic AI can't handle. Manual operation of the vehicles can also provide training data for the vehicle AI, which helps it handle similar tasks on its own later. A sapient AI operator like Calcery can actively monitor and remote control an entire fleet of vehicles to a much higher degree of efficiency than the onboard AI, but still needs time off work and field assistant staff. The large cockpit is fitted for a human wearing an exosuit. Folding radiators keep the vehicle cool even in Dirtball's scant CO² atmosphere. Manipulator arms allow the vehicle to perform more delicate tasks on its own. Talita The other workhorse of the junkyard. Tod ATTACHMENTS Front attachments can be mounted to the nose rig for specialized tasks. Counterweights in the rear of the vehicle can be swapped to balance the load capacity of the attachment. Airless tires require less maintenance and cannot pop from the wear of driving over abrasive regolith grit. Cutter: An arm attachment with a disc shaped grinder blade on the end. Scoop: A wide, low to the ground frontloader shovel attachment. Excavator: An arm attachment with a bucket shovel on the end. Crane: An arm attachment with a grasping claw on the end.

    Runaway to the Stars: Page 163

    May 06, 2025

  • Talita's cheeks bristle and her pupils constrict. She looks off to the side and digs her thumbs into her hands hard enough to tremble. Talita: Um– I– She gets up from the mattress on the floor, apologetically wringing her hands. Talita: I’ll just text you. I don’t want to waste your time. She walks towards the exit while construction noises blare in the background. Idrisah looks sad and disappointed; but Gillie is flushed, ears flattened, and glaring at Talita's retreat with obvious hurt.

    Runaway to the Stars: Page 162

    May 03, 2025

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