Lt. Kim Stapledon - Still Slaves to the Gods

[John Smith]

Rotunda, Captiol Building, Ah'rak IV))

Kim grew increasingly worried as she listened to Perastra speak.

Perastra: You may be right. But I must be right.

Stapledon: On Earth there was a man thousands of years ago named Aristotle.  For centuries people thought the writings he left behind were the last word on science.  Until people started doing experiments of their own.  For a while a great many people were upset when scientists contradicted Aristotle.  This is where courage comes in.  

Perastra: Is it truly wise to throw out the foundations of knowledge already laid out in the manuals for the sake of a chance we may find a better way?

Stapledon:  I'm not saying you need to completely throw them out, but you need to understand that you are just as capable of making the same discoveries that went into the writing of those manuals.

Perastra:  Perhaps.. but the foundations of our science work. Our copters fly, our weapons fire, our reactors burn. Experimentation has only ever broken resources that could never be recovered. Trying to improve reactors killed hundreds of thousands, not long ago.  We learned not to tinker with things we do not already understand. In my view, that isn't cowardice, just statistics.

Inwardly Kim sighed.  She was completely missing the point.  The Ah'rakkians were still a colonized people but they didn't know it.  Instead of being slaves to their gods they were enslaved by the fear that they'd misuse or break the gifts their gods had bestowed on them.  

She tried another tack.

Stapledon:  Because building things and engineering are just applied science.  Our job as scientists isn't to do what it says in a book.  Our job is to add to the books and make them even better.  When we make observations and predictions we can test those predictions.  For example, you might predict that if you drop a stone and a car they will both hit the ground at the same time.  You can test that and go from there to formulate theories about gravitation.

Perastra:  We can't just keep trying things with the artifacts.  They're a finite resource.

Stapledon:  Then forget the artifacts.  Look...

She popped her combadge off and found retrieved her tricorder and held them at arms length, handing them to Perastra.

Perastra:  What are you--

Stapledon:  Do you feel how one of those is heavier than the other?

Perastra:  Yes, but...

Stapledon: If you drop them both at the same time how fast will they fall?

Kim dreaded what she might say.

Perastra:  Well the heaviest one would land first of course.

Her stomach churned but she made certain not to show it.

Stapledon:  Try it.  ::She nodded encouragingly::  

Perastra let go of the combadge and the tricorder and both struck the floor at the same time.

Perastra:  But...  But one is heavier...  How is it you can make things fall at the same speed in spite of their being different weights?

Kim knealt down and retrieved her equipment.  She looked up at Perastra and said,

Stapledon:  I didn't make them do that.  You just tested a principle of the physics of gravitation.

Just then her combadge chirped.

S'Rorr: =/\= S'Rorr to Lieutenant Stapledon. Let's gather back together in the State room. =/\=

Stapledon: =/\=  Stapledon here, acknowledged.

They made their way back to the state room, having wandered off briefly while talking about science and philosophy.

Stapledon:  Perastra, I need you to try the experiment you did with dropping objects but using something like two stones that weigh different amounts.

They reached the entrance to the stateroom.

((Stateroom - Capitol City - Ah'rak IV))

Perastra:  I will, Kim, but why should something that attracts itself to the ground so much harder fall still at the same speed as something that--

The room was suddenly bathed in a brilliant white light.

S'Rorr/Sherlock/Corbin/Wright/Madra:  Response

Kim instinctively crouched wound a place along the wall near the window and crouched, covering her head.

S'Rorr/Sherlock/Corbin/Wright/Madra:  Response

There was a loud thud and a dull cracking sound as the window took the brunt of the blast.  Somewhere in the distance she could hear glass shattering.  She looked over toward Sherlock and then Madra while retrieving her tricorder.

Sherlock/Madra:  Response

Stapledon:  Commander?  I'm detecting a burst of gamma radiation.

Perastra:  What??

S'Rorr/Sherlock/Corbin/Wright/Madra:  Response

--

Lt. Kimberly Stapledon

Chief of Science

USS Chin'toka

I238601KB0

Pronouns:  

Character:  She/Her 

Writer:  He/Him