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Terms and conditions apply. Kiss

2:01

mum. Mm, mm, mm. Be Hans. I

4:31

love them. Don't we all?

4:33

And even had the pleasure

4:35

to attend some of Dr.

4:37

Bernhard's lectures before he passed.

4:39

I was concluding a traversal

4:41

at the uppermost outpost, researching

4:43

techniques to measure and to

4:45

study distant mica structures when

4:47

I was invited to be

4:50

a part of the ship's

4:52

development. Incredible, yes. Now, and

4:54

this isn't your first rodeo,

4:56

as it were, but before

4:58

this assignment, what would you

5:00

consider sort of the highlight of

5:02

your career? Dear goodness, Kannikin, you

5:05

know how I hate singling out

5:07

favorite moments. Well, there's so many

5:09

of them. I can admit to

5:12

a persistent level of pride in

5:14

crafting my accomplice here, The Bocular

5:17

Man. Hello. I am the Bocular

5:19

Man. I can do things. A

5:21

person. As you can see a

5:24

good rhyme too, yes. It's a

5:26

tricky bit of bocculation, but his

5:28

ability to listen and understand

5:30

is really quite sophisticated. Yes,

5:33

yes. Even better than mine

5:35

some of the time. I

5:37

don't know about that, but

5:39

I mean, to be sure,

5:41

the bocular man is, it's

5:43

a wonder, a delight, but...

5:45

I feel like you've neglected

5:47

to mention any of your

5:49

other highlights. Your lecture tours,

5:51

field work, your teaching, tenure,

5:54

how about your best-selling book,

5:56

The New Cosmography, under the

5:58

Bernhardt and Gottel imprint. My

6:00

dad? And deprive myself the

6:02

opportunity to hear someone else

6:04

mention them. Never. Well, some

6:06

people are calling this voyage

6:09

at the start of a

6:11

new age of exploration. Would

6:13

you agree? Oh, absolutely. The

6:15

insights we've already achieved through

6:17

the ship's development cannot help

6:20

but revolutionize numerous fields. And

6:22

it is the edict of

6:24

this inaugural journey to fundamentally

6:26

extend that map. The points

6:28

were soon to pass, the

6:31

sites were soon to see,

6:33

will necessarily make us ask,

6:35

well, what's beyond that? And

6:37

if the ship somehow enables

6:40

us to find yet more

6:42

dark mica, I see no

6:44

reason not to expect a

6:46

time of tremendous exchange for

6:48

the cosmos. I'm on the

6:51

edge of my proverbial seat,

6:53

obviously, as we all are,

6:55

but likewise. Do you have

6:57

any thoughts, any hypotheses about

6:59

what we'll find at the

7:02

highest point of our journey?

7:04

Oh, yes, several. Most particularly

7:06

notable, we expect to encounter

7:08

a sort of fall-off of

7:10

all life above the upper

7:13

unfold. In my time at

7:15

the uppermost outpost, we spent

7:17

ages surveying for any endemic

7:19

life. But amid the jagged

7:21

jetsam and mica dangers, it

7:24

is simply too hostile an

7:26

environment for biology to really

7:28

get its hooks in. Oh,

7:30

it sounds frightening. Are hooks

7:32

common amongst unfauna? Oh, well,

7:35

sometimes, but in this case,

7:37

it's really just a figure

7:39

of speech, cannequins. I see,

7:41

I see. We also know

7:44

that should we verify an

7:46

increasing density of matters as

7:48

we ascend, we should also

7:50

expect to encounter more extreme

7:52

weather patterns as well. But

7:55

many unknowns also await us.

7:57

Who knows? could discover the

7:59

source of almica, discover proto

8:01

islets somehow embedded in the

8:03

firmament, gain a better understanding

8:06

of how water circulates in

8:08

such climbs. The list of

8:10

hypotheses is extensive, Kannegan. Well,

8:12

those are some of the

8:14

high points of our journey.

8:17

What about the lowest point?

8:19

What do you expect? Good

8:21

question. Well... Based on accounts

8:23

that have been shared by

8:25

the consortium baronies about the

8:28

depths, we could at minimum

8:30

anticipate encountering some truly vast

8:32

terror systems. Historically, these have

8:34

stymied attempts at exploration, of

8:37

course, but thanks to our

8:39

test flights and the radical

8:41

innovations that the fold light

8:43

has enabled, these terrors will

8:46

pose no threat to the

8:48

ship. Beneath these terrors, though,

8:50

we might predict a diminishing

8:52

amount of activity alongside the

8:55

diminishing light. We may, this

8:57

way, gain some sense of

8:59

the fold's natural processes. Goodness,

9:01

wouldn't finding some perfectly inert

9:03

fold be simply fascinating? Absolutely.

9:05

I wish you all the

9:08

best in that. But you

9:10

know what? Let's shift a

9:12

bit, and let's talk about

9:14

the Delta. Compared to the

9:16

other extremes of our cosmos,

9:18

we do know a fair

9:20

bit about the dangers inherent

9:22

there. What are you expecting

9:24

to discover in the Delta?

9:27

Well, as you alluded to,

9:29

given the historic precedent for

9:31

Delta runs and the well-documented range

9:33

of terrors that prior teams have

9:35

encountered, I for one am eager

9:38

for the ship and its crew

9:40

to look as far along the

9:42

Delta's unscape as we can. Though

9:45

terrors forged the ship and terror-proof,

9:47

it may be, we are choosing

9:49

to err on the side of

9:52

safety all the same, striving to

9:54

avoid the worst of it. Good,

9:56

good. But I fully expect us

9:59

to surpass... the morass. In

10:01

fact I predict that we

10:03

will arrive at the edge

10:05

of reality itself and the

10:07

loathsome task that our crew

10:09

will have will be to

10:11

find the words to describe

10:13

it. Tremendous, absolutely tremendous. All

10:15

right, how about after? The

10:17

postscript, after this voyage, what

10:19

would be next for you?

10:21

Well, hopefully another voyage. Hopefully

10:23

many more. There are so

10:25

many questions still unanswered. Would

10:27

the ship be able to

10:29

navigate to the found? How

10:31

close to it could we

10:33

get with the current fighting

10:35

against us every inch of

10:38

the way? At minimum, there

10:40

will be books. to write,

10:42

lectures to give, knowledge to

10:44

share, and more interviews just

10:46

like this, I dare say.

10:48

I hope so. We cannot

10:50

wait to bring our discoveries

10:52

back for all to know.

10:54

I hope to be a

10:56

participant in some of those

10:58

interviews. Of course, Kannekin, you'll

11:00

be there. Now, what about

11:02

you? What about Merlin himself?

11:04

Can you tell our readers

11:06

something about your... personal life,

11:08

your interests, do you have

11:10

a family? What do you

11:12

enjoy doing outside of work?

11:14

Hmm. You make it sound

11:16

like there are people who

11:18

enjoy doing things without their

11:20

full and precise attention, but

11:23

I understand. There is comfort

11:25

in letting one's mind drift.

11:27

Does use of altar bud

11:29

count as a hobby? I

11:31

mean, it certainly could. Do

11:33

you think you'll share that

11:35

in your article? I mean,

11:37

if you're comfortable with it,

11:39

I'll include it, but if

11:41

not, we can certainly cut

11:43

it. Well, I trust you

11:45

to know your audience. But

11:47

no, no, family. The crew,

11:49

though, has been joined by

11:51

some of my oldest and

11:53

dearest friends, however. Dr. Ripley

11:55

Raulfield, for instance, are on

11:57

board physician and I, we

11:59

first... crossed paths while we

12:01

were both on a volunteer

12:03

shift at a, oh goodness,

12:05

it was a mike-lung treatment

12:08

facility in the highest light.

12:10

This would have been tens

12:12

of traversals ago now, but...

12:14

She yanked me off of

12:16

my first day tour to

12:18

hold a picture for her,

12:20

performing a lavage. I never

12:22

imagined at that time that

12:24

we would both eventually be

12:26

crewing the first dark mica

12:28

ship. Just wild, utterly wild.

12:30

Serendipity, really. All right, Merlin,

12:32

you've consulted on this ship.

12:35

You've helped chart the course

12:37

of this exploration. Tell me

12:40

if this voyage only answers

12:42

one question for you. What

12:44

is that question? What is it

12:47

that you most want to know

12:49

the answer to? Why? Why has

12:51

the cosmos come to be the

12:53

way that it has? Why are

12:55

we the way that we are?

12:57

No one could have believed that

12:59

the incidental affairs of humanity

13:02

would lead us directly to

13:04

the tools of our own

13:06

self-actualization. Yet, within the disaster

13:08

of Mitzt's moon, lay the

13:11

shard that would become the

13:13

ship. Absolutely miraculous. Truly, every

13:15

on has its fold, in

13:18

a purely figurative sense, of

13:20

course. Well, that's the end

13:22

of my notebook, and so

13:24

I suppose that's the end

13:27

of our interview. Merlin, thank

13:29

you so much for joining me

13:31

today. Organic and I assure you,

13:34

the pleasure is also sincerely mine.

13:36

You know, one more thing, Merlin.

13:38

Merlin. How do you do it?

13:40

Do what? Well, how do

13:42

you remain so confident

13:44

all the damn time?

13:46

Pish! Pish! Pish! I'm

13:49

only human, Canica. An

13:51

end. Interlude 1. Sam

13:53

Regal, as Canek

13:55

and Artivelt, Matt

13:57

Rowan, as Berlin-Vat.

14:00

The adventure continues

14:03

in in season 2.