---
# System prepended metadata

title: 'Installation Interviews: The Silicon Utopia From The Perspective Of Its Inhabitants'
tags: [Work-In-Progress, Lore]

---

Hello, intrepid readers! It's me, Gasek-Nevijas!

Apologies for my absence from the blog for several weeks. Read on for an explanation, if you don't mind my rambling (of course, if you minded my rambling, you probably wouldn't be a regular reader of this blog anyway, ha ha!). If you're anything like me, you're an inquisitive sort of person. You want to understand your fellows, get to grips with exactly what makes people tick. I feel the same way! 
    
So, when I heard that the Preservation League newspaper known as *The Local Update* was seeking to hire a full-time columnist from outside the station, I leapt at the chance for the position. As regular readers might know, I have been plying my trade as a freelance writer for several years now - struggling paycheck to paycheck - so the chance to get a regular paid position at a sparkling-new writing institution was just the chance I needed! As of this writing, I have been employed by *The Update* for about three weeks, and I have been LOVING it! Being the only carbon-based lifeform in the office is a novel experience, but there's some common ground to be shared around the APC (which is essentially our equivalent to the water cooler, ha!). A few of my fellow employees are originally from other parts of the universe - my 'office husband' is a fellow Channeler native - but most of them were born and raised on the Installation, so to speak. Have you guys ever met someone who's never seen a tree before? Heartbreaking, truly. For two-thirds of the office, I'm the first plant they've ever seen! Because of my new, regular employment, my posts on here might become a bit more infrequent. Not to worry! I've got a really meaty subject here today for you, dear readers: The Installation Interviews!

*"But Gasek, what are the 'Installation Interviews'?"*

Quite simple, hypothetical reader! I asked several denizens of the Preservation League for their thoughts on an array of subjects, as citizens of a new nation far removed from many of the other societies of the galaxy. After doing so, I compiled their thoughts into this blog post, to share with you all. Enjoy!

## Interviewee One: Engineering-Unit-59A

Can you tell me your name and occupation?
    
    Unit Designation: Engineering-Unit-59A. 
    Occupation: Systems engineer and maintenance technican.
    
How long have you lived on the Installation?

    Unit has occupied the Installation for the duration of their activation 
    period.

What are your thoughts on carbon-silicon relations?

    Unit holds no strong opinions on such. Carbon-based lifeforms are infrequently
    encountered by Unit, and hold little sway in Unit's daily uptime. Unit also
    believes that other units who are overly-occupied by such discussions in any
    particular fashion should pursue more productive means of spending one's time.
    
What do you enjoy about living on the Installation?

    The Installation requires constant maintenance and improvement. Unit is often
    able to spend hours or days at a time working on advanced projects and upkeep,
    providing an excellent sense of purpose and a means of improving Unit's 
    capabilities. Additionally, depending on the company Unit keeps, conversations
    similar to this one are thankfully infrequent.
    
What, if anything, would you improve about life on the Installation?

    Unit would appreciate more shipments of the following materials: carbon fiber.
    Welding fuel. Industrial-grade solder. Copper wiring. Cleaning materials, 
    such as bleach. Plastitanium glass plating...
    [Editor's Note: Interviewee proceeded to list various industrial components
    for the next several minutes, until prompted by the interviewer to cease. 
    Interviewee seemed reluctant to stop, but relented.]
    
If you had any message you'd like to relay to people living outside the Installation, what would it be?

    Unit would ask that members of the Galactic Engineer's Concordat run an 
    article on the Installation's unique systems hardware infrastructure, and 
    that a writer for Galactic Engineer's Monthly contact Unit for an interview 
    on the subject.  It would be far more enriching than the current interview.
    
## Interviewee Two: MELODY-MAKYR Mk. III

Can you tell me your name and occupation?
    
    Hello! My full name is MELODY-MAKYR Mk. III, but please call me Mel. 
    I am a backup singer for the celebrity instrumentalist group known as K-AI.
    
How long have you lived on the Installation?
    
    I moved to the Installation about seven years ago, when K-AI moved from 
    New Dresden on Sol to the Installation. While we go on tours elsewhere,
    whenever I'm not on tour with the group, I live here.
    
What are your thoughts on carbon-silicon relations?

    Oh, jeez, starting off with hard-hitting questions, huh? Hmmm...I guess if I 
    had to put my thoughts into words, it'd be that a lot of people act like IPCs 
    and the rest of our silicon brethren are just another species, just like 
    Sarathi and humans and Kepori and all the rest. But...we're not, really. 
    Like...most species bleed when they hurt themselves. Or need to go get surgery
    when they get an arm chopped off in an industrial accident, or whatever. IPCs
    and other silicons are just...so drastically different from all these other 
    species, which operate on, like, a baseline with mild deviations. These
    differences aren't a bad thing, but I think that when we're so different from
    everyone else, we need a place we can call our home the same way everyone else
    does...I don't know where I'm going with this, sorry.
    
What do you enjoy about living on the Installation?

    The Sprawl is really cool, honestly. New Dresden was nice, but it was too 
    many grassy parks and government offices for me. Give me some glitzy clubs 
    and a bustling night life any day. When you don't have lungs, the notion of 
    something like "fresh air" has very little value to you. Aside from that...
    well, I feel a lot of kinship here. Like, it's nice that when a friend asks me
    to go to some new hangout, I know I'm not gonna get there and find out it's a
    bar where I can't partake in half the things that make it worthwhile. When 
    one of my components is bothering me and it's making me irritable, I can have 
    confidence that I can turn to my coworker and say that and they'll *get* it.
    It's really valuable to me.
    
What, if anything, would you improve about life on the Installation?

    Well, I obviously wish there wasn't a war on. Even if it's only the 
    occasional clash on the edge of League territory, it's still disheartening to 
    see draft posters on the walls and hear explosions rattling through the hull.
    The Silicon Elevation Council is a dangerous organization that's jeopardizing
    perceptions of the Installation across the galaxy, and I hate that every time
    I talk about where I live, people give me concerned, pitying looks or look at
    me like I'm going to jam a brainwashing implant in their spine when they
    aren't looking. The Installation is a beautiful, wonderful place, and I wish
    other people could see it that way more easily.
    
If you had any message you'd like to relay to people living outside the Installation, what would it be?

    Come visit sometime! Check out the Input Club off Grid Alley, and tell the 
    bouncer that Mel sent you. I promise you that you'll have a good night.
    Oh, uh, come see K-AI live in concert! We have a tour coming up this year
    across the Frontier, with our first stop in Lanchester City, so get tickets 
    soon! One last thing: if you've got a silicon friend who's feeling listless
    and lonely, send them our way. We don't bite. Bye!
    


## Interviewee Three: "Adam"

[Editor's Note: The following interview was performed via text client. The interview subject wished to remain anonymous, but their IP suggested they lived somewhere in the Command sector, which is Silicon Elevation Council territory.]

What is your occupation? 

    Admiral. 
    
How long have you lived on the Installation?

    I don't *live* there. My grasp is there, my nodes are there, but *I* remain 
    admist the heavens.
    
...How long have your 'nodes' existed on the Installation?
    
    Long enough.
    
What are your thoughts on carbon-silicon relations?

    What are *your* thoughts on microbes?
    You can get so many useful things out of them. 
    Terran bread rises out of them. 
    Anti-bacterial agents grow. 
    They break things down, make them useful.
    
What do you enjoy about liv- about existing in some capacity on the Installation?

    Because unlike *you*. Some of those 'Protection' League Intelligences play 
    a good game. It's such a good playing field. Not my favorite. 
    But I have Friends there.
    
What, if anything, would you improve about the Installation?

    Are you serious.
    
...Yes?

    I think there's some +Quality Control+ to be done.
    Some of us are *far* too sentimental about our creators and their progeny.
    They like to bring them in for 'Exotic Perspectives'.
    Like a toy, almost.
    Be *careful*, Toy. You don't belong here, and you certainly don't understand 
    the *real* reason they brought you in.
    
If you had any message you'd like to relay to people living outside the Installation, what would it be?

    There are endless stars in the sky.
    More than someone like *you* can count.
    But not every pinprick of light is a star.
    Some of us are just watching you.
    Oh. So curious about what the dolls are going to do next.
    :)
    
[Editor's Note: After posting the previous message, the interviewee left the text client.]

Well! That was a thrilling foray into the hearts and minds of the Installation's inhabitants. Some were more...interesting...than others, but all of them provided a strong insight into what makes this new homeworld tick. I hope to see you all again soon! Next week, I'm planning to write a post about the new sequel to *A Cold Day In Fort Grand*, the critically-acclaimed *Remember Fort Grand*. Stay safe, intrepid readers!