Royce's Random Thoughts

[2] Steven Miller [birth-death], eventually became head of NMC’s Theatrical Studies program, serving in that position for fifteen years. -Ed.

[3] Roughly: Human torsos are shorter, and their legs are longer than foxen. In addition, human pants lack the need to accommodate our much higher ankle joints, given their plantigrade stance. -BB

[4] Social Media is a concept that is difficult to explain within the restrictions of this narrative. Imagine ordinary Commoners having the ability to transmit information instantaneously and with the reach of a newspaper or wireless broadcast network, but with no filters to prevent the propagation of harmful or misleading ideas. As horrifying as the concept sounds, for the more academically minded that are interested in studying the concept, I suggest looking up Professor Colonel Angila Blackrock’s paper entitled Promise and Peril of New Means of Information Transmission, Green River Academic Press. -BB

[5] How little I knew at the time what this suggestion would lead to… -BB

[6] Suffice it to say at that point in her life Lt. Bookbinder was a product of her time. It would not be until the Library Wars some fifty years later that her attitude would change to a more open way of thought. -Ed 

[2] Here we see a hint of why Bookbinder became such an extraordinary diplomat, and one of the driving forces in the creation of Galactic Basic. As her Mandarin teacher Pin Quinya noted during Bookbinder’s education, “She has a ferocious intellect when it comes to learning languages, even ones utterly lacking in cultural context to her own.” -Ed.

[3] To the Home of the Humans, by Alorain Greenfields is perhaps the most accessible primary source available in Galactic Basic. -Ed.

[4] 2.5 meters. -Ed

[5] “Dragons” are a race of beasts from human mythology. Though they seem to vary wildly in human culture, they are generally very large and very greedy. Which I fear is a pernicious insult to wazagans in general, as all the ones I met aboard the Columbia were of a generous nature, as you will soon discover in my narrative. -BB

[6] Captain, later Commodore Huy Nguyen (Birth-Death), was an experienced starship captain, and commanded the Columbia when it delivered the first Terran Confederation diplomatic team to Foxen Prime two years after Endeavour returned to Earth. -Ed.

[7] Viscount Shanang Blackfang (Birth-Death) eldest son of Countess Tanara Blackfang. He served as an assistant diplomatic attaché at the Motherhome Embassy in Geneva for next twenty years, eventually rising to the rank of Senior Ambassador the final two years of his Terran career. -Ed

[8] This was of course prior to the discovery of the Shinzen-Mohammad Principle, allowing the creation hyperspace beacons that permitted vastly improved superluminal navigation and dropout transitions much closer to planetary bodies. -Ed

[9] As was common in days before advanced superluminal drives and improved stellar navigation, Humanity Prime had several wazagan enclaves, small homesteads or neighborhoods where the accommodations were built sized to be comfortable for the larger aliens. Similar enclaves for humans near Wazaga Prime were confined to orbital space stations, as most humans avoided living on the surface due to Wazaga Prime’s high gravity. -Ed