FreeRIDErs (setting)

FreeRIDErs story universe

Author: Jon Buck

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Author: Robotech_Master

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 Stories in Chronological Order 

Authors may add links to their stories as they happen in chronological order in story time. For a complete listing of all FreeRIDErs stories, since this list may be updated sporadically, see the FreeRIDErs Category.

156 AL

• Deserted (Robotech_Master)
• Merging Traffic (Robotech_Master)
• FreeRIDErs (JonBuck)

 Background Material 

 Monetary Units 

Source: Reynolds, Nathan. (149 AL) Zharus: A Socio-Economic Primer (Uplift: Uplift Press)

There is a frequently-repeated but probably apocryphal story that posits, when the newly-formed Nexus Consortium in Laurasia was drawing up plans to establish a colony on the continent of Gondwana, it forgot to provide the contractor with its preferred names for things, such as the units of currency the colony would use. So the contractor simply used “monetary units” (or the abbreviation “mu”) as a placeholder, assuming Nextus could change it later.

However, the name had not been changed by the time the colony was actually founded, at which point the colonists--impressed with its straightforwardness and simple Greek-letter abbreviation--adopted the placeholder as its actual currency title. Thanks to Nextus’s rapid economic explosion due to its advances in science, technology, and industry, its “mu,” “moo,” or “moonits” soon displaced other colonies’ own government-backed money (such as Nuevo San Antonio’s neo-peso or Uplift’s cumulo) as the de facto currency of trade among people and businesses.

By this point, the passage of time makes it unlikely the story will ever be either proven or disproven--but whether true or not, the story has been incessantly repeated by other colonists (and even Nextusians themselves) for the same reason as most ethnic humor--it plays so well to the Nextusian stereotype as a bunch of unimaginative pragmatists. (See also, “How many Nextusians does it take to charge a hardlight projector?”) Unimaginative or not, however, Nextus boasts a GDP 50% larger than its nearest Gondwanan competitor—so perhaps pragmatism may not be all bad.

 Zharus: Ecology and Wildlife 

Source: Banner, R.J.. (122 AL) Zharus: A Guide for Immigrants. New Boston: Suffolk E-Press

Introduction: A Far Away Home

Zharus was discovered by a sublight survey probe in the year 72BL (Before Landing, 2278 AD). It took twenty years for the data to travel back to Earth at mere lightspeed. At the time habitable planets were starting to appear more frequently as probes were sent to nearby stars. That Zharus was a habitable super-Earth came as a surprise in the astrobiology, astronomy, and xenogeology fields. Underwritten by the philanthropic Zharus Diaspora Group and Steader Colonization Consortium, a fleet of twenty colonization ships were built and sent into the stars, with hundreds more to follow. The journey took thirty-five years and is an adventure tale by itself.

The advent of superluminal propulsion a century ago changed the whole colonization landscape. Even the first superluminal starships shaved twenty years off the travel time. Since then, as speeds through subspace steadily increase, we are now within a year's travel from the Core Colonies of Proxima and Centauri. We have the space, no natives to displace. Come join us!

Our world is dominated by three truly massive continents to match its impressive girth, rightly named for Old Earth's long-vanished supercontinents. Despite this, our surface gravity is less than Old Earth's. While this leaves planetary resources deficient in most useful heavy metals, asteroid mining more than makes up for it. Our world provides ample resources, including so-called "rare earths" in vast amounts necessary to run modern civilization.

We are proudly the largest jewel in the Earth-sphere's crown. Independent of Earth-sphere politics, yet proud of our heritage.

Laurasia: A Temperate Eden

The smallest continent, Laurasia's growing population of two billion is still uncrowded. As large as North America and Asia combined, by itself it has nearly half of Old Earth's habitable surface area. The continent has been extensively terraformed and the process continues. 90% of food production is centered here, with vast areas devoted to Terran crops and livestock. Yes, we still raise food the old-fashioned way.

Visit the capital city of Zharustead.

Rodinia: A Native Refuge

The second-largest continent. Slightly larger than Laurasia, it dominates the Southern Hemisphere. The Zharus Colonial Authority designated this continent as a native refuge--a Planetary Park--declaring it off limits to any development aside from a few special tourist and scientific installations.

Zharusian life is primitive by Earth standards, with no native vertebrates. The continent is dominated by life similar to Earth's Carboniferous Period, three hundred million years ago, with the addition of grassoids, flowing plants, and well-developed soils. Verdant and lush, there are many safari options for the willing. Will you dare?

Gondwana: A Billion Year Drought

Since its discovery from the very first survey probe, geologists and climatologists from Earth and beyond have marveled at the conditions that have produced the Dry Ocean. A combination of geographical features, tectonic stasis, and the most stable climate ever discovered, have left an area larger than the North Atlantic on Earth drier than the Atacama Desert in South America. At the deepest point, 1,800 meters below sea level, temperatures can reach 80C on high summer days and a chilly -20C on low winter nights. The Dry Ocean contains wonders unseen on other worlds, even the low-gravity spindle-arches on Proxima. Desert tours are available for a nominal fee, ranging from personal tours from locals to commercial liners carrying hundreds of guests in climate-controlled comfort on leisurely week-long cruises. Human and native life exists around the edges. The Polis of Uplift is the only one that exists away from the life-giving rains of the continent's Coastal Ring. These hardy, friendly folk will be happy to welcome newcomers from Earth, Proxima, Wednesday, and the other human colonies.

What life exists in the Deep Desert lives on a different plane of time. See the columnar "plants" that contain numerous channels to trap any hint of moisture in the air, some estimated to be millions of years old.

There is great wealth here, buried in the rock, in vast deposits of evaporates bombarded by millions of years of solar radiation, changed somehow. It's all here, unclaimed riches. Will you get yours?*

* _{This is not a guarantee. Suffolk E-Press LLC is not liable for mu spent, death, dismemberment, accidental species/gender reassignment, or potential bankruptcy.}

 Crossriders: A Survey 

Presentation Speech to Terran Psychological Association Symposium on Gender Issues, Sydney Australia, Earth, 1 May, 2500 AD (150 AL)

If there is any one place that is most renowned for falling farthest outside psychological gender norms in the present day, that place is probably the colony of Zharus. Our global media net has for years been flooded with rumors and tabloid stories about the mores of the place, and the planet's very distance has made determining the truth of these matters…problematic, to say the least. Very few of us have felt we could spare the years necessary to go and investigate for ourselves!

However, we at the North American Psychological Journal have been carrying on an extensive long-distance correspondence with our colleagues on Zharus over the last few years, and at this time we are ready to present a peer-reviewed paper originally published in one of their premier sociological journals. Based on this paper we will present tonight, it is safe to say that the truth about Zharus and its "RIDEs" may be even more startling, with more profound implications for the future of gender theory, than even the most outrageous tabloid stories could have predicted. Indeed, if the information about the effect RIDEs have on the body are even half true, there are whole new areas of species-related body disorders and potential treatments emerging.

Consider that, although we have had nanite-assisted gender reassignment for over fifty years, at no other place in the galaxy can the decision to change gender be so heavily influenced by economic factors—and at no other place is it possible to have one's own gender changed entirely by accident.

As I think you will agree, Zharus could be the site of the next great breakthrough in the field of gender psychology. In months to come, we will be organizing a sponsored expedition to Zharus for more detailed study of these factors. We will have more information available at our booth.

(Source: Laurasia University Sociological Letters, 4 June, 148 AL)

By: Dr. Freya Tournquist, Ph.D.

Introduction

The ongoing revolution in nanotechnology, enabled in large part by the minerals in the Dry Ocean, has only just started to cause social upheaval in human societies on our massive world. There are many aspects to this phenomenon, but rather than writing about them in general terms (including Integration, Reticulated Intelligences, and the like) this research will deal exclusively with what are colloquially called "crossriders".

Who are crossriders? They are people--typically Gondwanan prospectors--who for one reason or another have chosen to purchase and Fuse with a RIDE who is not their birth gender, thus making a very fundamental change to their bodies upon first use. The long term effects on their social status and psychology is the subject of my next publication. This one is simply a survey of five questions. Unfortunately sample size was not as large as I had hoped, therefore the margins of error are wider. (+/- 2.3%)

Survey Results

1. Why did you choose a female RIDE when you were not a woman yourself?

1. Financial (price): 48%
2. Curiosity: 8%
3. Availability: 32%
4. Feature set: 5%
5. Other (specify): 7%

These results make clear that the majority of crossriders had mainly financial influences, with female surplus unit availability a distant but still very significant second. Most of the RIDEs purchased by prospectors are retired military units from Nextus. That Polis is notable for having a slight majority of females in its armed forces, while the opposite is true of Dry Ocean prospectors. It becomes a matter of supply and demand. Though the availability disparity is at times very small, most buyers are not willing to crossride for any reason.

Surplus male RIDEs are typically significantly more expensive on the open market (frequently due to bidding wars between natural-born male riders). This gives a financial advantage to female prospectors and those men willing to crossride due to lower capital outlays. Of course, brand new units made specifically for prospecting are also available from several manufacturers, but even decade-old Nextus surplus units are superior in terms of power, durability, and versatility (DeTomaso, L. 147 AL).

Since female units are less expensive and more often available, natural-born female buyers can usually find a gender-matched RIDE much more easily than males.

Notable answers to "Other" include (See Appendix A for full text).

• "It was cheaper than the gender reassignment nanosurgery I needed, and I got a new friend in the bargain."

• "Personal wager. I'll be a man again next year. It's made my marriage a lot more exciting! I have a lot more empathy for my wife now."

• "It wasn't by choice. That's all I'll say."

• "I... um... I was fresh off the orbital shuttle and needed equipment. Literally had no idea what I was getting into. I just bought the cheapest one I could."

• "My girlfriend said she'd realized she was a lesbian, so what else could I do? I thought the joke was on me when she said she'd actually just wanted to break up without hurting my feelings…but then she spent the night with me and we realized she really was a lesbian—and technically so was I. We've been together ever since. I won't say I've had an easy time adapting, but I'm a pretty happy girl."

• "I just needed a replacement right away. Didn't care. Been six years. Still don't."

2. Had you given any thought to such a radical change to yourself prior to purchasing your RIDE?

a) Yes: 3%

b) No: 95%

c) No Answer: 2%

Note that the "Fuser" process does make significant physiological changes to the rider. The addition of animal ears and a tail are de rigueur. This is due to the technological necessity to match sensory and motor inputs on a 1:1 basis (Gatt, G., 130 AL).

Unmodified humans have no tail under normal circumstances. This can cause disorientation in operating a unit with a tail, unless the human's nervous system is wired to control one at all times (ibid). Similarly, the different acoustic and balance effects from human to animal ear shapes would leave the RIDE off-balance as the human attempted to apply its human reflexes.

The same principles apply to the nanosurgical sex change, though of course on a much deeper level. Although men and women do have some analogous structures (such as breasts, penis for clitoris, etc.) the 1:1 rule still applies. Some RIDE engineers insist that it's psychologically necessary for the RIs themselves as well, but I leave that kind of analysis to them. It is possible to bypass this requirement by using something called "passive" mode that puts the RI to "sleep", with significant loss of advanced function. (Gatt, G., 135 AL)

3. Having experienced both genders, I prefer being:

M -> F changers

Male: 39%

Female: 43%

Indifferent: 18%

* Sample size for female-to-male crossriders is very small with consequently larger margins of error. Too large to report in this letter. In large part due to the same issues of price and availability addressed in question 1, male-to-female crossriders outnumber female-to-male by 4:1.

Within the margin of error, the preferences reported above are a statistical tie.

4. When will/did you return to your original gender?

a) Sooner than recommended safe minimum (<3 years*): 7%

b) Recommended safe minimum (3+ years): 27%

c) 3-6 years after original change: 16%

d) 7-10 years after original change: 10%

e) 10+ years after original change: 9%

f) Never: 31%

* _{Nanosurgery too soon has significant risks of permanent disfigurement and even death due to interactions with sex-change nanobots that linger in the rider's body for several years to assist in establishing and maintaining the body's new homeostasis. The actual minimum safe period is usually between 2.25 and 2.75 years, depending on a number of individual factors that cannot be determined without detailed homeostatic analysis and costly genome sequencing; 3 years represents a 5-sigma "fudge factor" sufficient to avoid danger in 99.999% of all cases. (Xian, Z.)}

5. Overall, has your "crossing" been beneficial or detrimental to your life and career?

(This was an open-ended question. Respondents were encouraged to put their experience into their own words. The full text of responses are in Appendix B. Here are some notable ones.)

• "Everybody should do this at least once. Just a few years of your life out of what, almost 120 years now? It's pure enlightenment. I switch every five years. Life would get stale otherwise."

• "My construction crew was all male, and we used to like to share around all the crude male sexist humor we could find—until the day I found out why the new forklift had been so cheap. Nobody knew quite what to think for the first week or so—then I got fed up with the pussy-footing and started forwarding around "dumb guy" jokes. And then two of the other guys worked up the nerve to trade in their male RIDEs for better equipment from "˜the other team' so we could take on bigger jobs! I guess we'll stay how we are for now—it's cheaper than buying new equipment or training natural-born women to work what we have. (And a couple of us have even started dating our co-workers.)"

• "I got tired of being the 'office chick'. I was a petite little thing. I would've quit, but the money was just too good. Well, they're not laughing now."

• "I hate every minute of it. Worst decision I ever made. And my zoot's not too fond of me either. Bitch."

• "How can I put this? I feel like Alice in Wonderland. I'm not trying to be all mystical or anything, but... women just don't know what they have. I'm all... ripe and womanly. Never going back. My friends have been very supportive. I've already gone native."

• "I try not to let anyone know my history, but I don't hide it very well either. I get sneers from 'real' women and men just shun me. My business has suffered greatly, and I live in one of the more progressive polities. I think I'm going to have to start fresh somewhere else. Maybe after I learn to blend in better. Don't get me wrong, though, no regrets here."

• "I was a man for three years and I look back on the experience with mixed feelings. It was worth doing once... only once."

• "I dunno, maybe I'm the only one who feels this way, but…c'mon, what's the difference? We both eat, we both breathe, we both [urinate] and [defecate]. So we have different plumbing, big deal. (I do spend most of my time alone out in the desert, though. Maybe I'd feel different if I had to put up with other people.)"

Conclusion

We are only at the early stages of a vast social change driven by

technological advance. It's happening rather more slowly than the old

"Singularity" predictions of centuries ago, but it's finally here, courtesy of our wondrous home Zharus. Not only for the physical effects on humanity, but on the new Reticulated Intelligences that are our new partners and essentially humanity's children. Eventually I hope to study the results firsthand, but the Integrated* are reluctant to participate. Despite this doubt, the word "transhumanism" is no longer something to chuckle at.

* _{Indeed, I'm not entirely certain they actually exist.}

References

DeTomaso, Laura (147 AL). Get more whoosh for your mu: ten year old Nextus mil-spec surplus vs. everyone else brand new! FreeRIDER Magazine. July.

Gatt, Gerhard. (130 AL). Sensory and motor synchronization between organic and inorganic systems in Reticulated Intelligence Drive Extenders. Journal of Nanosurgical Engineering. 2(2).

Gatt, Gerhard. (135 AL). Prevention of deep physiological changes utilizing a new operational mode in RIDEs. Journal of Transhuman Nanosurgical Engineering. 5(3).

Xian, Zarla (132 AL). Restoration of original physical sex in "crossriders". Procedures and best practices. Journal of Nanosurgical Engineer

More to come…