“You stand out like a Nausicaan at a Deltan wedding.” Love the banter!

This scene really pops with banter and very swift mood changes. It almost seems to go from night to day in seconds with lots of hints of electrostatic malfeasance between the receptionist's realistic distress to the interference on the comm link. 

Also liking the tech - which I strongly suspect is far closer to 20 years than 200 years in the future.

Thanks!! rbs

Interesting bit of character building through two simultaneous conversations - internal and external - that converge. 

So apparently a dataport can connect to the skin of a person without cybernetics? That's actually not so far fetched as similar connections are already being used to train robotic arms to respond to the neural impulses of amputees. I would guess we are probably no more than a decade or two away from being able to interface at a command level with computers.

Getting the computers to respond to our thoughts - probably going to happen much faster than anyone expects. Making computer information directly available to the human brain without A/V devices - that's a bit of a longer road.

Thanks!! rbs

This chapter is asking the same moral question that STH ultimately asks (although that isn't really revealed until Ep 26...) And a more relevant question in light of the likelyhood that this technology is probably not 300 years off. It's probably less than 50 years off and my best guess is more like 10-20. And that's a conservative estimate. We still won't have affordible flying cars (dammit) but broadly available cybernetic appliances for the brain - very likely.

The Federation's concern for peace in the Alpha Quadrant is very reflective of Pax Americana - a cross between a pipe dream and a working reality that is dramatically undervalued by everyone pretty much worldwide.

Thanks!! rbs

Another classic jurisdiction wrangling scene and lots of great visuals. 

Looks like Mech got what Star Fleet wanted...

So is Whren dirty? I suppose we'll find out...

Thanks!! rbs

If you aren't a native to San Francisco, it certainly seems you did a lot of research to give this story such a tremendous sense of detail and place. Really nice word painting on the temple. And a little meta-Trek camera mugging with the musing on the nature of reality. Of a piece with the closing of the Moriarty thread in STNG.

The idea of a Buddhist master-hacker is quite amusing and somehow fitting.

Thanks!! rbs

Captain Whren... intersting. 

Trigger is a fun character - evidently a bit of a horndog. Not certain why the Federation would outlaw sexbots unless they were actually AI. 

Interesting that Mech carries an actual firearm. Always a useful backup in case you're caught in an energy dampening field... 

Two concepts generally missing in ST (largely due, no doubt, to screen time issues) are layers of bureaucracy and orbital weapons platforms. You managed to provide both in a single line with UMDA-owned satellites.

Thanks!! rbs

"Like a good neighbor..." Not someone I would want to live adjacent to...

The danger of writing any specificity into technobabble (such as the number of bits in a high level encryption code or the terraflops at which Data's processor works) is that technology reliably outstrips science fiction and projections of what we might accomplish 100 years in the future are met within 18-20 months.

Just hazarding a guess, but my strong suspicion is that the rate of change projected from ST Original Series to STNG is probably unbelievably anemic compared to the rate of techological innovation we will see within 10-15 years. I'm still waiting for my flying car, though.

A well-written action sequence within the cyber-realm - these are notioriously difficult to write because they are simply so far removed from our experience. Nice twist on the ending with a physical attack.

Thanks!! rbs

I really like that Masamune is willing to take no for an answer. Although I'm certain he strongly suspects Mech will change her mind. Indicative of a strong and resourceful character and a nice break from the way scenes like this are far too often written.

Of course the polar opposite is the Flash recruitment scene in Justice League. Nice character development on Mech.

Thanks!! rbs

I'm starting to hear the voices from the American dub for Ghost in the Shell. There is some similarity to the characters presented here. Clearly LT is largely cybernetic. 

Quite enjoying the landscape and the leisurely story roll out.

Thanks!! rbs

Classic turf battle over a crime scene - straight out of Law and Order and any number of other cop dramas. With a cyber-twist. Of course it will be perfect if there is an uncomfortable press conference at some point with all these characters and their Star Fleet counterparts looking very uncomfortable as some official praises them in front of the media for working together... (Just one of my favorite L&O moments ever)

Hacking the minds - very much the danger of cyber enhancements. I've seen quite a few good treatments of this, but not that I can recall within Trek world.

Thanks!! rbs

Evidently the hover doesn't hover very high as it seems dependent on the roads... Always interesting to look at various visions of future Earth. I'm assuming Paris being the capital of the Federation (instead of Nairobi and Caracas) is probably canon somewhere? I do like the idea of the Federation and Star Fleet having headquarters in different parts of the globe. Makes sense to not locate all the sensitive targets handilly in a tight configuration right over a fault-line...

Nice word-portrait of Jackson.

Thanks!! rbs

Very interesting change of pace from your usual fare - although I can recognize some of the tropes in the QD material you are creating now. 

Stories in the cyber-realm are exceptionally difficult to write and even harder to screen. Everyone's still kind of stuck with Tron all these decades later. The descriptive writing reminds me of anime from the last decade.

After the Justice League movies (the Joss and Zac versions), it's impossible to read a character saying or thinking about "mother" without hearing Ciaran Hinds' voice.

Thanks!! rbs

I hate your damn cliffhangers CeJay. I like your ability to easily talk "tech" yet make it easy for us the readers to follow along. It is a skill Braga and company never seemed to master!!!

Now...release the next segment!!!

Author's Response: Thanks for the comment, Rob. I'm glad you find it easy to follow the technobabble here, as much of it is quite different to what we usually expect in a traditional Trek story. I think Shadow Plays wouldn't work if people couldn't understand what's happening. And not to worry. The next segment will come up soon.