The Querent

Tell me about the relics?

What about them?

Why were some left behind?

Random

So nothing was time capsuled?

Maybe but nothing significant has been found yet

So everyone was surprised?

No it was random

So some knew?

Yes

Did these people leave important relics?

That’s not been disclosed

So the relics for view in the warp chambers aren’t important?

No, they’re just not sensitive

What are your favourite relics?

Bits of humans

You mean bones?

Not necessarily. Shoes are interesting

Why?

Endless variety

So what fascinates you about the variety?

Non functional design

I saw flower shapes on mud boots in a chamber once

My point exactly

And tall shoes on pointed heels. They didn’t value efficiency

Worse than that, they valued the non-functional

I’m not completely functional

I’m not surprised

I like the feel of things

You need re-engineering

Maybe, but I like strange

Again, I’m not surprised

See, I like your humour because it’s strange

No I’m consistent

Maybe, but I also like inconsistency

We have a programme to correct that

But I would have to opt in and I won’t

Silence

Can I ask you more about the relics?

You are

So what about food relics?

What about them?

They seemed to have an endless variety

Yes, lots of time wasted, collecting and preparing

Wasted?

Yes, food is functional, they made it optional

What do you mean?

They had an experimental attitude to nutrition

So they didn’t know what they needed?

No clue, lots of theories

But why optional?

Many of the theories created restrictions

What happened then?

They starved and they gluttonised

All because they didn’t know the basics?

Correct. They also obsessed over choices

So they failed to find balance?

Yes, many spent their lives in search of balance

We have balance in 1 drink

Yes, we value efficiency

Silence

What other relics interest you?

They don’t

I like toys and games

You would

Especially the soft looking ones

Like?

I’m not sure what to call them, hairy round creatures

Likely bears

They must have been popular because many survived

Yes like shoes

What did they do with these bears?

No idea

Maybe they represented something, like an ancestor?

Do you really care?

Yes it’s interesting. Maybe they absorbed pain for them

I’ll make a note of that question

Some have roundish symbols and get well messages designed into them

Yes those symbols are unsolved puzzles

Maybe I’ll solve that puzzle one day

Book in for re-programming before it’s too late

Silence

What about the games?

Which ones?

Balls

Pointless objects

Yes but many had weapons with them

Like?

Planks of wood, sticks and nets

Primitive mind sets

Yes but interesting

I really like the bigger toys too

Like?

Devices that moved along the ground

People capsules

What about the ones that flew

Endless variety, but all very unsafe

They look comfortable

No point to comfort if you’re dead

They seemed to experiment a lot

Yes restless people

So you feel the relics reflect an unstable people?

Obviously, especially with food

Have you seen the relics of their daily life?

Too mundane for me

I like to pretend what it might have been like

You sound restless

Maybe I am

I’ll make a note

I went to warp chamber once, at an old lake. Was my best experience

That’s why you’re here

I always wondered about that

So talk

They encapsulated an entire living space

Yes I know. Very controversial

Why?

It triggers

What?

Restlessness

Why?

You tell me

I enjoyed the detail. Whole community snap frozen

Games, puzzle bear toys, food items, moving capsules,

time dials, books, and people

Keep goin

It was the people I remember most. Frozen. Still in strange

clothes. Under a lake, very beautiful

What made it your best experience?

I could feel myself there

There’s a good reason for that

What is it?

You were.