13 Conifer Village / Anemone and the Professor

Previously, on Usagi Days: The Professor's computer is destroyed in a fire. Anemone comes to visit her in the middle of the night, in an attempt to understand the technology behind the computer. She voices her concerns that Orc technology might be involved.

- 13.1 - The Professor Refutes Anemone's Claim -

Prof K: "Ha ha ha! Oh … oh my, that's good. I needed that. That's too funny."

Anemone's face was bright red. She hoped that it didn't show in the darkness of the room.

When the Professor finally composed herself, she added, lips curled in a mocking smile: "I'm conflicted. On the one hand, I'm offended that you think the human mind incapable of working around the SDF to produce such a machine. And then on the other, I'm flattered that you think my work could match the engineering prowess of the Orcs.

"But no. Rest assured that there is no Orc technology involved in the construction or operation of the SOLA9in3."

- 13.2 - The Professor on Lost Technology -

Prof K: "Anemone—have you ever heard of the Lycurgus Cup?

"The Lycurgus Cup was a Roman artifact. Created sometime in the 4th century. A glass cup with a very special property: it could change colors depending on how light was shone on it. Red when lit from behind. Lit from the front the glass turned green. Dichroic glass. Similar to the stuff the reflector pixels are made of.

"When it was re-discovered a millennium and half later, scientists were puzzled initially. They didn't understand how the cup worked. Let alone how such materials could even be constructed by the Romans so long ago.

"It wasn't until more than 40 years after the cup's discovery, in the 1990s, after significant advances in material science, and electron microscopes, that we were able to explain how the cup worked. Nanoparticles. Tiny particles of gold and silver too small to be seen by the naked eye. That's putting it lightly, to say the least. We're talking about something 1/100,000th the size of a grain of sand. The cup had these tiny particles embedded into the glass itself.

"But that's barely half the picture. We understand why the cup changes color, from a material point of view. To this day, we still don't know their process of creating dichroic glass. As far as history is concerned, it's a lost art. A lost technology."

Anemone: "But the reflector pixels—"

Prof K: "Repurposed from various materials made during the late 20th century. In other words, it took our late 1990s era technology to match what the Romans accomplished with no electricity, no advanced tools.

"Just because we can explain how something works, doesn't mean we can reproduce the process that lead to those results."

- 13.3 - The Professor on Lost Technology, Cont'd -

Prof K: "The course of history is rife with more examples of lost technology. The Romans again, who were able to make concrete more durable than anything that came after. Byzantine Empire, with a proto-napalm like substance shot out of portable flamethrowers. Ancient Greece and an intricate, mechanical astronomical calculator. What might very well be the first known computer itself.

"The point I'm getting at, Anemone—Even if the Orcs had not come, if they had not activated the SDF, there was never any guarantee all the technology we worked so hard to build and maintain would last. No guarantee that we could even retain and pass down all our collective knowledge through the ages. Because knowledge is not just knowledge. There is experience, there is intuition. All that which we cannot pass down through theory alone. Methodologies, processes."

- 13.4 - The Professor Proposes a New Paradigm -

Prof K: "We've been so busy trying to revive our old technologies, trying to apply our old methods and knowledge to a world that no longer exists, that we give up immediately when they fail. And of course they would fail. That's the entire purpose of the SDF.

"We have to abandon what we knew about the world as it was before the Orcs. Clinging to the past in the hopes that our old systems will start working is like trying to resuscitate a body from a pile of bones. A complete non-starter. We've lost before we even began.

"The only way we can ever make progress is to take a different path. A different branch in the great big skill tree that comprises all of human technology, real and theoretical. We have to start from the basics.

"We have to treat all of it—our existing world—like lost technology. Stop trying to recreate processes that will simply not work. We have to draw a different map of getting there."

- 13.5 - Anemone Still Has Questions -

There was a long period of silence.

The Professor hadn't explained a single thing yet about the SOLA9in3.

She was avoiding the question.

Anemone: "… The memory."

Prof K: "Excuse me?"

Anemone: "You still haven't explained how memory works in the computer."

The Professor sighed. "Is this still about Delia? That woman's a sophist. It's what she does. Don't let her get into your head with her poison words." The Professor stood up, the chair sliding back with a screech. "It's late, Anemone. Let's talk about this tomorrow, okay? I promise. I'll go over all the details with you until you understand it. Let's both do this with clearer heads, okay? It's been a really long day."

- 13.6 - Anemone Walks Back to the Inn -

The road back to the inn was pitch black. Each one of Anemone's footsteps was accompanied by the flicker and swaying of her lantern's light.

Of course she wasn't satisfied with the Professor's answers. How could she be?

Anemone chewed her lip anxiously.

The Professor was evasive. What was she hiding?

Her thoughts were interrupted by a rustling behind her. She swung around, held the lamp up.

There was nothing there.

- 13.7 - Ruby is Awakened by a Knocking -

Ruby was sleeping soundly when an aggressive knocking at her door jolted her awake.

BAM-BAM-BAM!

The door rattled in its frame with the force of each knock.

"Ruby Hanasaki! Open up!" A voice she didn't know.

BAM-BAM-BAM!

Down the hall she could hear other voices, just as aggressive, calling out her friends. ("OPEN UP!" BAM-BAM-BAM! "OPEN THE DOOR NOW!" BAM-BAM-BAM!)

Ruby stumbled out of bed and opened the door. Standing in front of her were two village guards, their spears at the ready.

Ruby: "What's this all about?"

Guard #1: "By order of the Village Council, you and your friends are hereby detained, on suspicion of aiding the Order of the Lunar Schematics in the arson of Professor Kay's machine."

Guard #2: "… 'Schismatics'."

Guard #1: "That's what I said."

Guard #2: "No, you said—…"

Down the hall, her friends were similarly being rounded up. Ruby looked at Anemone, Ivy, and Violet who were looking back at her with the same look of confusion.