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Two things happening in this section: Preparing for the Information Traders, and meeting the Information Traders. Billy, as a due to his experience in the navy, leads the way.
A couple of things about the Information Traders: They are pirates, or pirate-affiliated, which means they tend to stay away from normal ports like Anchorhead or New Haven, but are welcomed in places like Lúme, where the government finds them useful. There are neutral nations, like Ganda, that will allow pirates in, as long as they behave themselves.
Second, the Traders are, at their heart, gossips, hence the easy nature with the lead Trader and Cait. They like information, and they like to share. Lately, it’s been a lot of sharing for free, with all the arms being broken and whatnot.
Third, analog tech. One of the big things about Ta Ante I wanted to do was present a world that’s slow to adopt new technology. Certain things, like submarine tech and the Relay, are quickly picked up. But computers like we know them are much less used. Xiphos uses one on the Rose for navigation, but it is entirely normal for a captain, like Cait, to prefer charts to computers. The Traders like their books, and what was implied in this chapter is that they have thousands upon thousands of books of information. The great tome in the middle is something of an index to all of it. And I find that much more interesting than computer screens and print outs. Also, sealing wax.
So that’s all I have for this week. As always, any questions and comments you have are totally welcome.
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I really love the mix of technologies. Like how they have the relay and everything on the Rose, and yet they had shelves of books in different languages. Some things technology shouldn’t replace. Maybe you should get rid of your kindle and buy a book already ;)
Heh. I’ve only purchased one book for the Kindle, and that was Wil Wheaton’s Memories of the Future, which every TNG nerd should own. But now I don’t know how I’ll get him to sign it at the next PAX =(
All of the other books I have are from Project Guttenberg or were free from Amazon. Also, I’m working on putting 7 Days into ebook form (right now as a PDF). I’m trying to figure out how to package the commentaries with the story.
So there.