04-13-2018, 11:28 PM
Another frisson of of irritation washed over him. Puzzled, he allowed himself a moment to consider his reaction even as he smiled at her and buisied himself with his wallet. Strange. He followed the thread, a slight tendril of gossamer spider silk, careful, gently gathered it, careful not to snap it quickly. Like following a memory, it couldn't be forced. Just coaxed.
Gradually, the slender string led him deeper and deeper until he found its source. Malik. She irritated Malik. There was a judging condescension to her tone. As much said as not spoken. The iceberg, enigmatic statements spoken under the breath, hinting at possible reasons.
And now that he knew, he felt it too. Without hesitation, a small mentat projection began and suggested a likely source. Resentment. Anger. Priviledge irritated him in the extreme. Entitlement. The haves verses the have nots. Poverty and suffering in contrast to luxury and security.
He understood its use as a tool, the sociological leverages that functioned as a method of control and distraction against rivals and allys. Indeed, her father, the former priviledge was a perfect example. A tool, to be used judiciously, but also with care lest the person felt justified in seeking more based solely on birth.
It was an eternal balancing act. No one man, no matter how powerful, not even as powerful as Ascendancy or himself, controlled all. Or knew all. Trust, in its weakest form, was a necessity. But with that came the need to depend on others.
Illogical. Necessary. And here sat the embodiment of it all that stupid weakness, the chaos and inherent risk of taking power. People who were needed. Given a place. Their heirs. A place not earned but demanded. Judging him in tone and look. Of course he resented her. She represented the weak underbelly of all who intended on rule.
And he smiled inwardly. It WAS a weakness. He well knew. Ascendancy trusted him. And he knew his hungers very well. Knew what he was doing, what he was planning for now and the future. Knew how he was gathering one thread of control after another.
The weakness of rule. The need to trust.
So...not her specifically. What she embodied. She personally was nothing despite her name. Or even her skill.
The projection ground to a halt, the conjecture clear, the source defined, the feeling stripped of emotional undertones. She was a girl his age. Noble intentioned in appearance. Just another person.
Marcus slipped into normality. During the calculation he had been setting his wallet into holographic display mode, pulled up the Wolfram Maplex suite, ran his own add on. Setting his phone on the bench, the Tau Algebra addon projected into the air between them. "Like you, I have been studying the power. This tool allows me to model the threads of power I can create."
It did so much more. He had enabled it to graph in 3 dimensional space his weaves based on his Tau algebra equations, each eigenvector matrix itself another eigenvector matrix, representing its twists and turns in space in knot terms, its thickness over time, its energy level, and fractal position. It was not necessary to explain for what he wanted to do.
He pulled up a saved expression and a simple weave traced its way into the air, three threads twisting about each other in a seemingly simple pattern. "This is what it looks like to me to weave a self sustaining flame of bright red."
He pointed the color coding of each thread, indicating which was earth, water and fire.
To demonstrate, he wove the threads and let the flame dance for a moment before letting it go. "As you said, define things by what they are not. Can you weave these threads? Will they do the same thing?"
Edited by Marcus DuBois, Apr 14 2018, 03:10 AM.
Gradually, the slender string led him deeper and deeper until he found its source. Malik. She irritated Malik. There was a judging condescension to her tone. As much said as not spoken. The iceberg, enigmatic statements spoken under the breath, hinting at possible reasons.
And now that he knew, he felt it too. Without hesitation, a small mentat projection began and suggested a likely source. Resentment. Anger. Priviledge irritated him in the extreme. Entitlement. The haves verses the have nots. Poverty and suffering in contrast to luxury and security.
He understood its use as a tool, the sociological leverages that functioned as a method of control and distraction against rivals and allys. Indeed, her father, the former priviledge was a perfect example. A tool, to be used judiciously, but also with care lest the person felt justified in seeking more based solely on birth.
It was an eternal balancing act. No one man, no matter how powerful, not even as powerful as Ascendancy or himself, controlled all. Or knew all. Trust, in its weakest form, was a necessity. But with that came the need to depend on others.
Illogical. Necessary. And here sat the embodiment of it all that stupid weakness, the chaos and inherent risk of taking power. People who were needed. Given a place. Their heirs. A place not earned but demanded. Judging him in tone and look. Of course he resented her. She represented the weak underbelly of all who intended on rule.
And he smiled inwardly. It WAS a weakness. He well knew. Ascendancy trusted him. And he knew his hungers very well. Knew what he was doing, what he was planning for now and the future. Knew how he was gathering one thread of control after another.
The weakness of rule. The need to trust.
So...not her specifically. What she embodied. She personally was nothing despite her name. Or even her skill.
The projection ground to a halt, the conjecture clear, the source defined, the feeling stripped of emotional undertones. She was a girl his age. Noble intentioned in appearance. Just another person.
Marcus slipped into normality. During the calculation he had been setting his wallet into holographic display mode, pulled up the Wolfram Maplex suite, ran his own add on. Setting his phone on the bench, the Tau Algebra addon projected into the air between them. "Like you, I have been studying the power. This tool allows me to model the threads of power I can create."
It did so much more. He had enabled it to graph in 3 dimensional space his weaves based on his Tau algebra equations, each eigenvector matrix itself another eigenvector matrix, representing its twists and turns in space in knot terms, its thickness over time, its energy level, and fractal position. It was not necessary to explain for what he wanted to do.
He pulled up a saved expression and a simple weave traced its way into the air, three threads twisting about each other in a seemingly simple pattern. "This is what it looks like to me to weave a self sustaining flame of bright red."
He pointed the color coding of each thread, indicating which was earth, water and fire.
To demonstrate, he wove the threads and let the flame dance for a moment before letting it go. "As you said, define things by what they are not. Can you weave these threads? Will they do the same thing?"
Edited by Marcus DuBois, Apr 14 2018, 03:10 AM.