Editing The Earth That Is: Background (section)

=Transcript 2=
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| align="left" style="background:#f0f0f0;"|'''Radio transmission log.'''
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| align="left" style="background:#f0f0f0;"|''' Recorded on “Launch Day,” 9.13.2xxx.'''
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|<font face="Courier">V1: ...that I’m proud of each and every one of you. The ships launching today are humanity’s hope and future, but we who stay on Earth to guide them to the stars… we are their vanguard. Non est ad astra mollis e terris via.

[Many different voices]: Non est mollis via.

V1: Alright, let’s get to it. How’s our window looking?

V2: We’re five minutes out from the first launch. Diogenes is green across the board.

V1: Good. And the stage II launches?

V3: Western seaboard vessels are reporting in now. All green but one.

V1: Cleisthenes?

V3: Yes.

V1: Maintain its launch window but be ready to cut its access to the network if they don’t make it off the ground. They get one shot at this, same as the rest.

V3: Understood.

V4: Actual, this is Diogenes ground control. Our engines are spooling up. I have about 90 seconds of uptime before this facility is immolated.

V1: Understood, Diogenes.

V5: Transferring most recent technothurgery numbers now.

V4: [heavy static interference] Numbers received and uploaded to Diogenes. This is… this is it. Non est molli-.

[Many different voices]: Non est mollis via.

V1: Non est mollis via. He did his job. Let’s do ours. How’s Diogenes doing?

V6: Actual, this is low orbit observation. We won’t have a visual on Diogenes until it’s cleared its own blast radius, but initial numbers look good.

V2: Diogenes still reporting green across the board.

V6: There it is. We have visual confirmation of Diogenes. It’s left the atmosphere.

V1: [sigh] Good work, but that’s just the proof of concept. There are seven launches on the western seaboard to deal with. Let’s get started.

[heavy static and high-pitched interference]

V1: What the hell is that?

V5: It’s… it’s Belgrade.

V1: Impossible.

V3: Agreed. Even if somebody made it to their transmitting stations, their access codes are deprecated.

V2: They’re uploading to the network.

V1: Cut them off.

[high-pitched interference]

V1: Cut them off!

V2: Trying.

V3: I’m getting engine core reports - they’re spooling up.

V1: Western seaboard doesn’t have their window yet. Tell them to stand down.

V3: Not western seaboard. ALL ships.

V1: Shut them down!

[many panicked, overlapping voices, and then static]</font>
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