From Sirio's diary
After Maki's live stream, the atmosphere at the New Sixam museum has completely changed. Many art lovers worldwide have flocked here, all wanting to be among the first to study more closely our new artistic trend.
Sixamians and humans discussing art together, we didn't think we could reach such a remarkable goal. And not just in terms of art. I remember all too well the distrust humans were showing us.
Does the fact that so many decide to come here mean that, perhaps, they might be starting to trust us a bit more?
Maki: A lot of time has passed already, isn't it funny to think about it?
Sirio: It's unbelievable to me too.
Maki: You've done a lot of paintings, but this could still be my favourite, you know?
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By now it is clear to all of New Sixam that we are a large and chaotic family, as well as that we always have some good reason to celebrate.
That's right, the birthday of the (no longer so) little Helios has arrived, it's time to bake another cake!
Both he and Alba couldn't wait for this celebration any longer, they really are very close siblings.
Alba: Say cheese!
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Alba: Come and see what Lily wrote to us!
Helios: Is she doing well in Sim City?
Alba: Yes! And she says she left her old PlaySim here, and that we can play it!
Helios: What, are you kidding?
Alba: Ouch, I missed it!
Helios: Wait, I'll try!
Alba: It seemed so easy when watching Lily, how did she do?
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More than anything else, what Helios is really looking forward to is being able to attend high school too, to be able to get his hands on a serious physics, chemistry or biology textbook.
Sirio: It looks like now you're better than me at chess!
Helios: Well…
He didn't say it out loud, he's too nice to do that, but I'm pretty sure that his real thought was: “Well, it's not that hard to play chess better than you!” I wouldn't say that he's entirely wrong, to be honest. His intelligence must have skipped a generation, because when he does this kind of stuff he reminds me so much of my mom.
Helios: Rather, can I ask you something?
Sirio: Sure. Did something happen?
Helios: In school we are studying the stellar core power plant, the largest electrical plant in New Sixam.
Sirio: Uhm… Do you mean the one that uses the star of the planet Sixam?
Helios: Yes, exactly! We've read the entire history of the project, and among the names of those who designed it there are a lot of Millers. By chance, is any of them related to us?
It's funny how these family stories became the norm for me. However, when thinking about it, our family has indeed been involved in the weirdest situations. Reading the story of New Sixam, I don't find it hard to believe that our surname may appear more often than others.
Sirio: Uhm… Actually, it was one of the projects my mother had worked on, and also aunt Halley's parents. Oh, and Techna helped them too, if I remember correctly.
Helios: So it really was them!
Sirio: If you're interested, you could try asking directly to Techna, I'm sure they know a lot more than I do about this kind of thing.
And so he did, obviously taking advantage of another chess game.
Techna: The project for the exploitation of stellar cores, you say? Yes, I participated in the calculation of the energy flow rate of the system. Are you interested in knowing how it works?
Helios: No, we've already studied that at school, I think I've got it.
Techna: What question did you want to ask me, then?
Helios: What I really don't understand is why there was a need to make such a complicated plant. In short, he uses teleportation to extract very high-temperature matter from a star on the other side of the universe, wasn't it easier to use the Sun instead? And do we really need all that energy, by the way?
Techna took a few more moments than usual to elaborate an answer, that question referred to such a chaotic period for our family that not even they knew where to start.
Techna: It was a hectic period, New Sixam was experiencing a serious lack of resources which was stopping our technological development. You should have seen which battery I had to use, I used to recharge every few hours… The first reason why they decided to use that star is to extract the rare elements it contains, actually.
Helios: (thoughtfully) I see…
Techna: And then there was Arizhel's simulation…
Helios: (confused) Arizhel? Do you mean uncle Florian's mother?
Techna: Yes, her. She lead a group that calculated a very precise model to predict the evolution of this planet over the next few centuries. According to that model, the pollution was leading to an irreversible positive drift in temperatures that would have eventually made the entire planet inhospitable. Her proposal was to use all our resources to find another planet on which to start again from scratch, while we proposed a theoretically infinite energy source producing minimal pollution to remain here instead.
Helios: (thoughtful) Uhm, I hadn't thought about this viewpoint…
Techna: And so that power plant became the basis of the technological development of New Sixam. Perhaps you haven't noticed it because you're used to it by now, but nowadays New Sixam is the nation that drives the development of electronics, telecommunications and robotics worldwide, and that plant is fundamental to fuel them all. According to statistics, these sectors are also the largest source of income in the Country, also.
Helios: Cool! But where does all this stuff work? I've never seen anything like it around here!
Techna: There are various centres scattered throughout New Sixam. But the main one is a town they started building a few years ago around the Foxbury polytechnical university. Tech Sixam: the town built just like they used to on the planet Sixam.
Helios: What, does such a place really exist? Can I see it?
Techna: Nothing prevents you from going there, that's correct.
Helios: (aloud) Mom, dad? Can we go see a place? Please!
And that's how we ended up visiting the newly built town called Tech Sixam. It's in these moments that I realize how much I focused on arts and ignored this kind of development, I don't think I had even heard of it before.
When I was a child my parents took me on a trip to the planet Sixam a couple of times, everything was so different up there. Toq always had a lot to tell as we walked through those now deserted cities, and I can't deny that all the buildings I see around here resemble those quite a lot.
It could almost be confused with Sixam, if it weren't for the sunlight that hits us harshly on our heads, the golden sand, and for all the people we met on our way here.
Helios: Wow, this place is so cool!
Helios explored the place for hours, with Techna at his side promptly answering his every question, and the rest of us scrambling to keep up with him. Seeing him, someone could have said that he was actually visiting an amusement park, and not a brand-new high-tech centre.
Tired but satisfied, we ended the day with dinner in a local restaurant. As soon as she knew where we were Halley insisted on joining us too, apparently this area is quite popular right now and she was curious to give a look to that new town as well.
Maki: This isn't just modern, it's futuristic!
Techna: Making some calculations, I believe that the decorations are inspired by those used on Sixam 235.6 years ago.
Maki: Oh. I knew that up there they were much ahead of us with technology, but I didn't realize that the difference was so large...
Halley: So do you like this kind of technological stuff, Helios?
Helios: Yes, very much!
Halley: Then you certainly will have a lot to do, especially here in New Sixam!
Erika: Finally, here's the food!
Sirio: After all this walking we were starving! Enjoy your meal, everyone!
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A few weeks later, Miller's house
Florian: Hey, old chap, best wishes!
Sirio: C'mon, I'm not that old yet!
Florian: Ah ah, keep repeating it to yourself…
Sirio: Leave us some of the cake, okay?
Florian: Sure, what do you take me for?
Florian: Sure, what do you take me for?
Well, my dear diary, as you may be suspecting, the time for my birthday came too. I still don't feel that old, but at this point my ID card clearly says something different…
Oh well, in the end age is how one feels like, this certainly won't be enough to bring me down. Also, this is still a birthday party after all, isn't it?
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§HermioneSims§ corner
Tech Sixam was very funny for me to assemble, that's for sure!
All those new buildings are clearly from the gallery, there is no way I can build anything like that. Here are the screenshots of the gallery entries I used and to whom want to give the credit to:
To conclude, I want to point out this funny screenshot I made during this game session:
^My dear conspiracy theorist, that place could really be a bit too much for you XD
Sirio and Maki are so sweet together. The livestream idea was amazing and I love the detailed discussion between Sirio and his son about his early painting of Maki. It's heartwarming. The Millers have worked hard, so it's good to see that paying off with the museum and their art succeeding in New Sixam.
ReplyDeleteTech Sixam looks cool.
Thanks a lot for all today's comments, as always! This generation was definitively challenging for me, I'm really bad with arts in general, but it was interesting to try seeing things from such a different point of view for once. Making the Millers bringing some arts and introspection to New Sixam, alongside all the new technological developement, was something I definitively wanted to do, anyway.
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