Credomar's mysterious origins...

[mbarker]

I think I'm going to go with "No" on this one.  Lota seems to have gone out of his (what the heck, his) way to have witnesses present able to say exactly what they saw.  Frankly, the whole thing seems like a carefully orchestrated presentation designed to intimidate others without actually saying the threats outright.  The implications are quite clear without using extra words and without directly destroying anything anybody cares about.

I'm tending towards the idea that Lota is trying to control the weapon now that he has found it.  Of course, one wonders why he simply didn't destroy it outright.  How hard could it be?

I agree. He's demonstrating what he's got, but what's he planning to do with it?

As for destroying it -- right now, he's part of the weapon (the ghost in the control systems). So he would need another place to live if he destroyed it. Perhaps as part of the Fleetmind? Hum, we've got Tag (I forgot how to spell the current name -- tagioloosa?) and Lunesby and now Lota all probably headed for the same crisis in the near future -- how many AIs does it take to screw up a catastrophe? We're probably headed for a critical mass of AIs, anyway. And we haven't even been shopping yet!

[happyman]

At least Kevyn's finally gotten to the point now.

Lota could probably conquer an awfully large chunk of the galaxy with this weapon, although I'm not certain what he would do with it when he got it.  Yet somehow he was ambitious enough to decide to rule Credomar.

And AI's running amok does seem to have developed into a bit of a theme.  Perhaps the fabber-bot will also achieve transcendence in the mall-cop storyline?

[mbarker]

Perhaps the Pax Lota? Since you meat people don't seem to be able to run things well, I shall help you. Emperor Lota the First declares the Pax Lota?

One scene that I'm looking forward to is Kevyn talking to Ventura, asking whether those simulations that she ran on Lota included Lota having a 200-year-old superweapon to hold the galaxy hostage with -- and if she remembered just what the outcome of that simulation was?

[happyman]

Perhaps the Pax Lota? Since you meat people don't seem to be able to run things well, I shall help you. Emperor Lota the First declares the Pax Lota?

One scene that I'm looking forward to is Kevyn talking to Ventura, asking whether those simulations that she ran on Lota included Lota having a 200-year-old superweapon to hold the galaxy hostage with -- and if she remembered just what the outcome of that simulation was?

If she did, that would say an awful lot about Ventura.

I'm pretty sure Lota is well past the point where pre-creation simulations have any validity.  Too many unexpected environmental factors have come into play.

Of course, it seems to me that this weapon could be useful in Andromeda. Petey may have orders of magnitude more energy, but if he needs to hire mercenaries, Credomar would probably be considered a resource worth keeping.

[Chaos]

Build a really big wormgate and gate-clone Credomar many, many times, and have Petey use it to kick Andromeda's butt.

[mbarker]

If she did, that would say an awful lot about Ventura.

I'm pretty sure Lota is well past the point where pre-creation simulations have any validity.  Too many unexpected environmental factors have come into play.

Oh, I agree. But remember how proud Ventura was of her simulation testing? It seems like a good opportunity for Kevyn to remind her that simulations aren't the real world.

[happyman]

Oh, I agree. But remember how proud Ventura was of her simulation testing? It seems like a good opportunity for Kevyn to remind her that simulations aren't the real world.

Ooh, yeah.  That would be a good scene!  A little sarcasm can go a long way.  And it's a lesson a lot of real scientists and engineers could learn as well.