Friday 17 August 2012

Journey to Pan'Dha, Part One

Allow me to introduce myself, I am Suo'Khu. An unusual name but I digress. My past is not important in this tale but some needs to shared. I was a young student of Social Science, as part of the General Institutes, a group of educational institutes in Southern Bork'an. There was a group of us, high achieving students.

We called ourselves 'The Future". We were full of ourselves. Top marks across the spectrum, some like my self social scientists, others economists, AI specialists, engineers and even an astro-physicist. We rampaged across academic events on Bork'an like a Tidal Wave of youth and vigour. We all were in the same academic year, and graduated all within the space of a month. We awaited our assignments in the Empire. Some hoped for frontier postings, assisting in the expansion of the Empire. Others wanted to be posted to homeworld for top level research.

Pan'Dha is an insignificant outpost of the Tau Empire in the "northeast", and so it was with trepidation that I was assigned there. So insignificant I had never heard of it. Me, a recent graduate of the Bork'an Central Academy of Social Science, an educated member of society, ME! Suo'Khu!

Of course I immediately began investigating my destination  My initial research on the planet was only slightly less discouraging than my initial prejudice. I shall summarize here several available reports:

"A small observation outpost established at the close of the Second Sphere expansion, Pan'Dha - a moon of Dasak III, is neither ideal for our race in terms of habitability nor on established trade routes. As such it had a small population and limited importance, interesting only to Marine Xeno-biologists. This has changed in recent years due to breakthroughs in agricultural production of local sea plants, and in increased hydrocarbon extraction."

An isolated backwater, full of farmers and miners. I was to join the faculty at 'the' local educational institute and teach part-time while I documented local history and culture. There was only ONE educational centre on the whole planet! Of course, the Greater Good demanded it and I would obey, but I resented the sideways step my career was taking.

However deeper investigations began to pique my interest. More recently established colonies, when researched using academic libraries, have extensive volumes of socio-historical data and analyses. For example Fi'rios has two comprehensive and updated sets of social and linguistic trend data, which are analysed in the Bau'na series of journals. Pan'Dha has nothing. There a few scattered essays, the latest of which was14 years old, not to mention the poor methodology of its own research and poor referencing. My own work is far more thorough and rigorous. Perhaps I could begin a new journal, with myself as editor?

"The Pan'Dha Journal of Social Science, edited by Suo'Khu"

A scintillating thought. I began to see the wisdom in the guidance of the Tau'va and fully committed myself to my post.

 Naturally what was available was now safely stored in my personal archive. Already, I began to construct a database collating all available data and began requesting works on frontier worlds, even marine biology and hydrocarbon extraction - if it was important to Pan'Dha, it would become important to me.

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